Fuel falls by 9p a litre in December but is still too expensive, says the RAC

big four supermarkets to cut their prices more substantially to give drivers a fairer deal when they fill up, so even though they have reduced their prices collectively by more than 10p a litre in December, they are still nowhere near where they should be given the scale of the drop in wholesale prices. We hope the Business Secretary’s intervention just before Christmas puts more pressure on larger retailers to do the right thing.

“Looking at prices in Northern Ireland is a good reference for what should be happening across the rest of the UK as petrol was 4.5p cheaper there than the UK average at the start of December but was nearly 7p lower at the end of the month at just 144.43p. For diesel the difference is even more pronounced as a litre was 7p cheaper at the beginning of December and 9.5p less by the close at 164.55p.

“If fuel can be sold this cheaply in Northern Ireland, then this must mean something is very wrong with fuel retailing in mainland UK.

“While Northern Ireland does benefit from a fuel price checker website run by the Consumer Council this isn’t the main reason prices are lower there. A combination of factors contributes to making fuel cheaper including a higher retailer-to-car ratio than in the wider UK, more fuel distributors as well as the presence of sometimes cheaper fuel across the border in the Republic of Ireland. Interestingly, the supermarkets also don’t have the same hold on fuel retailing in Northern Ireland with only 28% market share compared to 43% on the other side of the Irish Sea.

“In Europe prices are also considerably cheaper as the average price of a litre of unleaded is 144p and diesel 152p. And just across the Channel in France unleaded is an average of 146p and diesel 154p. In fact, when compared to the 27 EU countries we currently have the second most expensive diesel and the sixth most expensive petrol.”

Prices around the UK