A Welsh petrol station is selling diesel for less than £1.50 a litre. The Shell garage in Begelly, Pembrokeshire, has unleaded for 144p and diesel for 149.9p per litre.
A big drop from when the average UK petrol and diesel prices were hitting regular daily records - in June last year - of around 191p per litre of petrol and 199p per litre of diesel. At these prices, tax to the UK Government represented around 43-44% of the total price that drivers were paying.
It has been reported that the price for wholesale diesel has fallen to a 15-month low but this is not always being passed on at the forecourt.
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The RAC says that generally speaking, higher oil prices lead to higher petrol and diesel prices at UK forecourts - and in theory at least, lower oil prices should lead to cheaper pump prices. But they say there are other variables that affect what we pay when we fill up, "including the strength of Sterling compared to the US dollar (since oil is traded in dollars) and retailers' willingness to pass on wholesale savings they make to drivers."
It is being argued that diesel drivers are not benefiting from the fuel duty freeze as retailers' profit margins have soared.. During the past four weeks, average wholesale prices have fallen by 10p per litre but this has yielded just a 3p-per-litre cut at the pumps, the motoring services company calculated. Diesel is currently priced at an average of £1.66 per litre at UK forecourts.
At the Tesco Extra on on Cardiff's Western Avenue diesel on Friday, March 17, was 161p while unleaded was 139p. At Morrisons in Llanishen it was 162.7p for unleaded and 162.7p for diesel, and Sainsburys at Thornhill was 162.9p for diesel and 141.9p for unleaded.
Retailers are taking an average profit margin of nearly 19p for every litre they sell, compared with 9p last year, according to the RAC.
The cost of both petrol and diesel fell for the fourth consecutive month in February, yet drivers dependent on diesel continue to be overcharged at the pumps, data from RAC Fuel Watch reveals.
The latest figures available show that February saw the average price of a litre of unleaded come down another penny (1.26p) to 147.72p, while diesel dropped 3.19p to 167.19p. The falls make the cost of filling a 55-litre family petrol car £81.25 (down £0.69 from £81.94 a month earlier), and the diesel equivalent £91.95 (down from £93.71 at the start of February).
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: "A reduction in pump prices would normally be extremely welcome news for drivers, not least in a cost-of-living crisis that is making the price of so many everyday items and services much more expensive than normal. But while our analysis shows drivers of petrol cars are paying a fair price at the pumps, the same sadly can’t be said for anyone whose vehicle runs on diesel.
“Retailers really ought to demonstrate they’re on the side of drivers by cutting their diesel prices now – not least as the wholesale price is on a par with where it was 12 months ago, yet the price they’re charging drivers at the pumps remains needlessly high."
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