Supermarkets have buckled under the pressure of the Competitions and Markets Authority’s watchful eye and cut prices after the regulator expressed doubt over reasons for high fuel costs.
Diesel has fallen by over 7p per litre at supermarkets in the two weeks since the regulator warned high forecourt costs could not be blamed solely on global factors and launched a review of pricing, motor group RAC found.
“Since the Competition and Markets Authority’s made its announcement […] it appears the rate at which the price of diesel has fallen has sped up,” spokesman Simon Williams said.
“Significant cuts to the price of supermarket diesel were long overdue as its wholesale price has been below petrol’s since the end of March,” he added.
Supermarkets had faced pressure to cut diesel prices after the wholesale cost of the fuel fell below petrol in April.
According to the RAC, the average supermarket price of diesel remained 14p higher than petrol throughout April despite being cheaper, with the current gap now down to 2.5p.
“While wholesale price changes take some time to filter through to smaller forecourts […] we can’t see any reason why the supermarkets still haven’t cut their prices to fairer levels,” Williams continued.
“We look forward to the results of the Competition and Markets Authority’s review within the next four weeks and hope it heralds an end to poor value at the pumps.”