Fuel prices should have fallen by an extra 4p per litre at petrol stations in the past month, the AA has claimed.
The Telegraph reports that the wholesale price of petrol has dropped by 5p per litre since the Platinum Jubilee weekend in June.
Despite this, drivers continue to pay eye-watering amounts of cash for fuel at petrol stations across the country.
The RAC says that the average price of unleaded petrol is 190.65p per litre in the UK. The average cost of diesel per litre currently stands at 198.42.
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Both values are expected to drop at petrol stations in the UK in the near future, the motoring body has claimed.
But as the wholesale price of fuel continues to drop globally, the AA claims that this isn’t being passed on to customers at the pumps.
Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesperson, told The Telegraph newspaper: “Since the Jubilee weekend, the wholesale price of petrol has fallen by 5p per litre and a further fall of 5p per litre could also happen in the following fortnight.
“Even commentators in the fuel trade say that their pump prices should be falling 4p in the next few days - yet we’ve seen barely a penny come off in the average pump price recently.
“Our fear is that the trade is sitting back to see what politicians do in terms of a tax cut, which they will then pass on to the customer, but then not pass on the wholesale price cut that they should have passed on by now.”
A review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) this month found that the increase from the crude oil price when it enters refineries to the wholesale price when it leaves them as petrol or diesel has more than tripled in the last year, from 10p per litre to nearly 35p per litre.
It said that retailers’ margins “remained about 10p per litre on average” over the same period.
The CMA also attributed record fuel prices to an increase in the cost of crude oil.
On the issue of whether the 5p-per-litre reduction in fuel duty introduced in March was passed on to drivers, the regulator said: “On the whole the fuel duty cut appears to have been implemented, with the largest fuel retailers doing so immediately and others more gradually.”
Figures from data firm Experian show the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Thursday was 190.8p, with diesel at 198.6p per litre.
That is an increase of around 60p for petrol and 64p for diesel over the past 12 months.
The CMA noted there are “significant differences” in pump prices between many rural and urban areas.
CMA general counsel Sarah Cardell said: “The recent rises in pump prices are a major worry for millions of drivers.
“While there is no escaping the global pressures pushing up fuel prices, the growing gap between the oil price and the wholesale price of petrol and diesel is a cause for concern.
“We now need to get to the bottom of whether there are legitimate reasons for this and, if not, what action can be taken to address it.
“On the whole the retail market does seem to be competitive, but there are some areas that warrant further investigation.”
She said the watchdog will “use our formal legal powers” to investigate pump prices, and “won’t hesitate to take action” if it finds evidence of “collusion or similar wrongdoing”.
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