‘Blatantly unfair’: Supermarkets still jacking up petrol prices, minister warned

Supermarket retailers in the UK are still jacking up petrol prices at the pumps despite nearly a year passing since the government pledged to intervene, the Energy Secretary has been warned.

In a letter to Claire Coutinho, the motoring group RAC argued if retailers were fairer on British drivers, diesel and petrol should be on sale for around 145p, compared with current prices of 157p and 150p respectively.

According to the RAC’s analysis, diesel margins have been above 15p per litre since April 22 and increased to above 18p last week. The margin on petrol is now nearly 12p a litre and has averaged 10p so far this year.

Major supermarkets, including Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, faced political pressure last summer after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revealed major retailers had overcharged drivers by close to £1bn at the pumps.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “We feel the current margins being charged by larger retailers in particular are extremely unfair on drivers struggling to get by in the cost-of-living crisis.

“The big four supermarket retailers, which dominate fuel sales, are once again flatly refusing to cut their prices in the wake of much lower wholesale costs. If they were being fair on drivers, they should already have shaved at least 5p off their current petrol average of 147p and 8p off diesel which averages 154p at a supermarket forecourt,” Williams added.

“We realise that supermarkets, along with all businesses, have been affected by inflation, but these increases seem blatantly unfair. And, of course, without them cutting their prices, there is little incentive for other retailers to follow suit.”

Following the CMA’s inquiry, the government pledged to tackle high margins by upping competition with Pump Watch, a scheme giving drivers the ability to get up to date information on petrol station prices, and by introducing a price monitoring body.

Ahead of the scheme’s launch, it is currently operating a voluntary scheme with 14 of the biggest retailers, who are providing prices for all of their sites on a daily basis.

“It’s very concerning to see fuel margins at such high levels, particularly as this is happening under the close eye of the CMA and while retailers are voluntarily sharing their forecourt prices with the intention of increasing competition,” Williams said.

“If the work of Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the CMA has had any effect to date on improving fuel price transparency, we ought to see prices at the pumps reduce significantly in the next week due to a sustained drop in the cost of oil. Sadly, we fear retailers are likely to need a little more encouragement before this happens.”

The government have been approached for comment.