Motorists rejoice as price of fuel finally drops ending four months of rises
Four months of rising fuel prices finally came to an end in June, with the price of both petrol and diesel falling dramatically due to the cost of oil dipping to $62, RAC Fuel Watch data shows. The average price of unleaded dropped 3p a litre from 130.67p to 127.62p, while diesel reduced 4.61p from 135.51p to 130.90p – the ninth biggest monthly reduction in the price of a litre of diesel since 2000.
But despite the wholesale price of petrol in the first week of June reaching its lowest point since March (95.79p a litre), the pump price did not fall as far as it should have done. In stark contrast, when the wholesale price was a similar level in March unleaded was being sold at 123p a litre – more than 4p cheaper than it was in the last 10 days of June.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “It’s great to see pump prices falling for the first time since January, but the reductions should have been greater based on the substantial decrease in the wholesale price. “Retailers were clearly banking on the oil price rebounding after its sudden drop which began at the end of May when a barrel was over $70. Inevitably this has meant bad news for drivers who have lost out with pump prices being 4p a litre more expensive than they should have been. “Unfortunately, retailers’ hunch that oil would quickly increase again were right and now their prices are broadly where they should be based on the current wholesale price. They just happen to have made significant profits as a result of not passing on more of the savings to drivers than they did.”
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