Yahoo Finance Fuel retailers will ‘lose credibility’ if they refuse to cut prices
Fuel retailers will “lose credibility” if they refuse to cut prices this week, a motoring services firm has claimed.
Petrol is around 12p per litre too expensive due to a reduction in the price of oil, according to the RAC.
The company added that the price of diesel is approximately 10p per litre too high.
It’s impossible to blame the prices on rising oil costs
Simon Williams, RAC
It made the claims after oil prices fell by around 10 US dollars a barrel on Friday in response to concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant.
This reduced wholesale fuel prices but the change has not been reflected at the pumps.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams estimated that retailers are making a “shocking” 19p profit on every litre of fuel they sell, more than treble the pre-pandemic figure of 6p.
He said fuel companies might “resent” being told that their fuel is overpriced, but that “doesn’t change the fact that they should cut” prices.
Mr Williams added: “If they don’t, we feel they will lose credibility with drivers, although it’s very difficult for motorists to vote with their feet because they have nowhere else to go.
“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.
“With fuel prices at record highs drivers are in dire need of some respite at the pumps and now it’s impossible to blame the prices on rising oil costs.
“It seems as though retailers think they can get away with charging more for fuel because of the public’s general acceptance of rising energy prices.”
Prices have continued to increase since record highs set in April 2012 were exceeded last month.
The average cost of a litre of petrol and diesel at UK forecourts is 147.64p and 150.85p respectively.
Filling a typical 55-litre family car with petrol or diesel is around £19 more expensive compared with 12 months ago.
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