GENERAL NEWS

HUGE HIKE IN FUEL PRICE IN AUGUST

PETROL AND DIESEL PRICES ROSE ASTRONOMICALLY IN AUGUST AFTER A LULL SINCE THE LAST HIKE IN MARCH

BY Press Release ON 04 September 2023

Keep going, only another 100 miles to the cheaper pump :)*

So here we are again, fuel prices through the roof again, in fact according to the RAC, it's the biggest price rise in a month for 23 years. You have probably noticed it at the pumps when you've been filling up, but the price of petrol has gone up by a massive 7p a litre and diesel by 8p in the space of one month. This adds around £4 to the average price of a tank of fuel.

You may be wondering why, as the last hike was caused by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Apparently this time it is the increasing cost of oil, which has gone up around 12dollars a barrel since the beginning of July, due to OPEC reducing supply - always a good way to make the prices go up. It is still not clear whether prices will carry on going up as there are various market factors at work, for example some concerns about the health of the Chinese economy and winter arriving in the US which apparently reduces journeys and thus demand for petrol.

Simon Williams, the RAC fuel spokesman, said:
“August was a big shock to drivers as they had grown used to seeing far lower prices than last summer’s record highs. Seeing £4 or more go on to the cost of a tank in the space of just a few weeks from a pump price rise of 6-7p a litre is galling, particularly for those who drive lots of miles or run an older, less fuel-efficient car.
“While the increase is clearly bad news for drivers, it could have been far worse had the biggest retailers not let their inflated margins from earlier in the year return to more normal levels as wholesale fuel costs went up.
“Wholesale costs for both petrol and diesel started to rise in late July on the back of oil hitting $85. While the barrel price has stayed at that level throughout August, retailers had no choice but to pass on their increased costs at the pumps. Fortunately for drivers though, they have clearly been influenced by the Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation as, all of a sudden, margins are once again closer to their longer-term averages. It appears they used the wholesale price rise to subtly cover their tracks – after all, big reductions at the pumps soon after the CMA’s findings were announced would perhaps have been far too obvious a step.
“All we can hope is that this move by many big retailers back to fairer forecourt pricing remains when wholesale costs go down again. Only time will tell".

The RAC have an app which has a feature to help with finding the best fuel bargains out there when it's time to fill up. It's the myRAC app's Fuel Finder feature and currently they claim it can lead to savings of up to 6p per litre. Also the RAC fuel watch gives a run down of all the fuel prices including supermarkets and motorway services so might be useful.

Have you noticed the price rise when you fill up? How is it affecting you, give us a shout at: [email protected] or drop us a message on Facebook

* Thanks yet again to Dave for the picture