UK Fuel Prices Rise at Fastest Rate in Five Months

Data from February shows that fuel prices in the UK rose at their fastest rate in five months in the second month of 2024.

The data comes from the RAC, and shows that petrol prices rose by an average of 4p per litre last month (diesel by an average of 5p per litre).

The RAC says that the cause of the rise is a rise in the price of oil, which exceeded $80 per barrel last month.

At the start of February, petrol cost, on average, 140.75p per litre, but that had risen to 144.76p per litre by the end of the month. Taking a 15-litre fuel tank, such a rise in the price per litre makes for an increase of 60.15p to fully fill an average motorcycle.

The data also shows that the most expensive supermarket to fill-up at is Asda (143.6p on average), which had both the most expensive individual forecourt (Parkgate Road, Chester, 154.9p) and the least expensive individual forecourt (shared between Ballyclare, Middleton, and Leeds at 136.7p). Tesco was the least expensive on average (142.1p) and also had the smallest difference between its least expensive (136.9p) and most expensive (143.9p) forecourts.

Furthermore, Northern Ireland continued its trend in February of having lower fuel prices than England, Scotland, and Wales. On average, petrol in Northern Ireland is 5.6p cheaper per litre than in the rest of the UK.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams explained that, compared to 2019, supermarkets have a 2p-larger margin, per litre, on fuel, but that their current margins are less than in the past two years. 

He said: “Looking at average margins across the whole of the UK, retailers are currently taking around 10p a litre on average across both petrol and diesel. The supermarkets in particular have now noticeably upped their margins to 8p a litre compared to 6p in 2019. Luckily for drivers, this is lower than the last two years when it was around 9.5p.”

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