Motorists have been given a boost by membership-only retailer Costco, who have announced reductions in petrol and diesel prices.
They have slashed petrol by 8p a litre to £147.7p, making it 12p cheaper than the average price at supermarket pumps and 14p less than than the national average, while diesel at Costco is on sale at its 19 forecourts for an average of 171.6p – that’s almost 14.5p less than the UK average. There’s a Costco station in Chester that is offering unleaded petrol for just £142.9 per lite and charging £166.9p for diesel, The Express reports.
RAC Fuel Watch suggests that petrol and diesels should fall sharply this week, with the breakdown organisation calling on the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – to cut their prices to assists drivers who have been hit hard by some of the most expensive prices at the pumps this year.
Fuel spokesperson for the RAC, Simon Williams, says that if Costco can reduce their prices in one fell swoop like this, then why can’t everybody else? He told Fleet News: “Drivers who aren’t fortunate enough to be members of Costco will be horrified to see just how cheaply fuel can be sold.
“It’s no wonder you often see long queues for fuel at Costco. In fact, they recently had to change the queuing system at their Bristol forecourt to cope with the number of people wanting to fill up.
“Even accepting Costco operates on pretty thin margins the supermarkets should be slashing their prices. The fact petrol and diesel can be sold for 12p per litre less than is currently being charged on average at the big four supermarkets is very concerning.”
The retailer has 19 forecourts across the UK including Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Gateshead and Leicester.
Williams added: “On Tuesday we called on them (the ‘big four’) to cut by 5p a litre, but since then wholesale costs have fallen even further, so they should really be cutting by at least 7p. Given the huge gap between wholesale fuel prices and the averages charged by the supermarkets, it could be argued that drivers are being deprived the benefit of the Government’s 5p duty cut.
“This is unfair and we hope it is being duly noted by both the Government and the Competition and Markets Authority which is currently investigating UK fuel retailing. Other than trying to fill up somewhere cheaper there’s very little drivers can do to avoid shelling out more than they should have to in the cost-of-living crisis.”
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