Drivers filling up at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have been warned about “widely different” petrol prices across these major UK supermarkets.
The RAC’s monthly fuel watch found a 14p difference between the cheapest and most expensive supermarket fuel on January 31.
The data provided to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revealed that the average price of a litre of unleaded in the UK was 140.5p in January, while diesel cost 148.5p. This means a full tank of fuel would cost £77.24 for unleaded and £81.73 for diesel.
In Scotland, the highest cost of a litre of unleaded petrol was 139.89p, while diesel was 149.13p. This equates to an average of £76.79 for a tank of petrol and £81.87 for diesel.
The RAC found the cheapest litre of unleaded sold UK-wide was by Sainsbury’s for 131.9p in Oxford and Newport. The most expensive was Morrisons at 145.9p in Exeter and Ipswich.
The average difference between a litre of petrol at a supermarket was nearly 12p, with Tesco having the smallest gap of 8p between its low of 138.2p and high of 142.9p.
In Oxford and Newport, Sainsbury’s petrol stations are charging 139.9p for diesel, which is considerably cheaper than in Bath at 153.9p. The average difference between supermarkets’ high and low diesel prices is just over 11p (11.3p).
RAC continues to find that fuel prices in Northern Ireland tend to be less than the rest of the UK. In January, petrol was 4.2p cheaper than the UK average at 136.2p by the end of the month, while diesel was priced at 144.9p, which is 3.5p lower.
Current fuel prices at Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco:
Asda
Diesel
- Min – 141.7p
- Max – 153.7p
- Average – 146.5p
Petrol
- Min – 132.7p
- Max – 144.9p
- Average – 138p
Tesco
Diesel
- Min -141.9p
- Max -150.9p
- Average – 146.5p
Petrol
- Min – 134.9p
- Max – 142.9p
- Average – 1438.2p
Commenting on these findings, RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “It seems blatantly wrong to us that the very same petrol or diesel can vary in price by as much as 14p a litre, depending on where drivers are filling up. Hopefully this will be addressed by the new price monitoring body recommended in the CMA’s report when it’s eventually set up, along with ‘rocket and feather’ pricing where retailers are too slow at passing on the savings from lower wholesale prices to their forecourts.”
Mr Williams warned that the UK “couldn’t afford” another incident like in 2022 when major retailers overcharged drivers by about £900million, according to the CMA.
He further mentioned: “The question is how soon such a body is realistically going to be established, especially with a general election on the horizon.”
The RAC noted that the wholesale prices of petrol and diesel increased by 3p and 4p respectively last January due to oil prices exceeding $80, a figure not seen since November’s end. Despite disturbances in the Red Sea affecting tankers, the oil market remains relatively stable due to lesser global demand.
Good news for motorists, experts predict little immediate change from the current barrel price of $82. Mr Williams said: “Interestingly, the recent rise in the price of a barrel has had the effect of squeezing bloated supermarket margins by around 3p a litre. This means drivers are now getting a slightly fairer deal when they fill up.
“But the big question is whether they will be content to operate at this level or whether they will look to get back to an average margin of around 10p, which is in stark contrast to the 3.5p they made on a litre in 2019.”
