Fuel retailers are overcharging consumers by as much as 12p per litre for petrol and 10p for diesel, according to the RAC which wants the government to take action if prices are not reduced,
"If a substantial cut doesn't materialise, we feel this is worthy of government scrutiny as there's no public body monitoring fuel prices to see if they're fair,” said Simon Williams, RAC’s fuel spokesperson.
Retailers were making a “shocking” 19p profit per litre which is over three times the pre-pandemic average profit level of 6p.
RAC research found the current average petrol price is 147.64p a litre while diesel is 150.85p, but if recent oil price reductions were passed through to the consumer pump prices would be 135p and 141p respectively.
Supermarket forecourts have been providing slightly lower prices than the rest due to their market power, need to compete with other supermarket chains, and hope that customers will also buy groceries while filling up.
Motorway fuel stations, as traditionally has been the case, are charging the most for fuel, which they argue is because they’re open 24 hours a day and have high rent costs, but this is something else that irks Williams.
“We can see no reason why motorway fuel should be so much more expensive, in fact, arguably it is much easier from a delivery point of view than it is getting fuel to urban filling stations,” he said.