Supermarkets are “taking advantage” of drivers by charging “far higher” fuel prices than they should be, a motoring services company has said.
The RAC accused the UK’s biggest fuel retailers of refusing to lower their pump prices despite a drop in wholesale costs. It said supermarkets’ profit margins are around 15p per litre for petrol and diesel.
This means customers are being charged an “unnecessarily high” average price of 161.0p per litre for petrol and 184.4p for diesel. This is only 2p per litre lower than the average for all UK forecourts – supermarkets normally charge around 3.5p per litre less than the UK average.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “With many people struggling to put fuel in their cars, it’s very sad to see the biggest fuel retailers taking advantage of their customers. They are charging far higher prices than they should be.
“This is unfortunately a perfect example of prices falling like a feather, the opposite of them rocketing up as soon as the wholesale price rises significantly. The supermarkets dominate UK fuel retailing, primarily because they have traditionally sold petrol and diesel at lower prices due to the large volumes they sell.
“Sadly there is now a remarkable lack of competition among the four main players which means prices are far higher than they should be. There are smaller, independent forecourts offering more competitive prices than supermarkets, so drivers should shop around.”
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