Major supermarkets have cut “up to 2ppl” off the price of unleaded petrol a day after the RAC highlighted the fall in wholesale prices and called for reductions.
On Tuesday October 3, the RAC said the cost of fuel rose for the third consecutive month in September despite the wholesale price of petrol falling 6ppl.
Data from RAC Fuel Watch showed the average cost of a litre of unleaded went up by nearly 1ppl (0.83p) to 119.19p while diesel increased by 1.34p to 120.31p, making both fuels the most expensive they had been since March. Both petrol and diesel had gone up 2.5ppl since the end of June.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “We saw the supermarkets cut 2p a litre off petrol in late September as a result of the lower wholesale price. But there is now scope for a further round of pump price reductions as wholesale unleaded is 6ppl cheaper than it was at the start of September.
“If the big retailers were to play fair with motorists we would see at least another 2ppl come off unleaded at the pump. This would be good news as it would drive the price of unleaded down from 119p a litre towards 117p. Unfortunately, the wholesale price of diesel is static so we won’t be seeing any cuts there.”
Today Asda announced it will cutting the price of unleaded petrol by up to 2ppl bringing prices down to a new national price cap of 113.7ppl from Thursday October 5, due to further decreases in the wholesale market. The price cap for diesel will remain at 116.7ppl.
Asda’s head of petrol trading Dave Tyrer said: “Today’s latest move shows that Asda is once again leading the way in reducing the price at the pumps. We were the first supermarket to go with a 2ppl cut last week and further decreases in the wholesale market on unleaded means we can bring the price cap down a further 2ppl from 115.7 to 113.7ppl on unleaded.”
Shortly after, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons announced identical price cuts.
Williams responded: “A day after we called for a price cut it’s encouraging to see the supermarkets have responded by taking 2ppl off unleaded. Despite a similar cut in late September the conditions have been right for a further reduction for nearly two weeks so it’s a shame in the interests of price transparency this hasn’t come sooner.
“What motorists need now is for every petrol retailer, large and small, to do the same to bring down the average price from 119ppl to 117ppl. Looking at the wholesale petrol market there are good signs that prices could go lower still.”
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