Adding fuel to the fire

THE oil price may be falling but motorists know from bitter experience that this has little impact on what they pay at the pumps.

- Harvey Jones

Plenty of other factors determine forecourt prices, including retailer margins and HM Treasury, which takes the lion's share of the petrol price.

Motorists will be seething at last week's news that profiteering petrol retailers are failing to pass on a 5p-a-litre cut in duty, implemented in March 2022.

The average price of petrol fell by 7.5p a litre in November to 146.95p, according to the RAC Fuel Watch. However, that is 10p more than we should be paying, adding £5.50 to the cost of filling up a 55-litre tank.

Diesel fell almost 7p to 154.40p but that is still 5p a litre too high, as retailers fail to pass on lower wholesale costs. The long-term average retailer margin is 7p for petrol and 8p for diesel. Today, they're making margins of 17p and 13p.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said drivers are "continuing to get a rough deal at the pumps" given that wholesale fuel costs have been falling for months: "Motorists should be paying around 137p for petrol, instead of a whopping 147p."