AA praises Asda for not surging petrol prices as diesel approaches dreaded £2 litre milestone

Motoring group the AA has praised supermarket chain Asda for preventing further fuel surges, as the price of diesel moved within 0.2p of the dreaded £2-litre.

The organisation’s fuel price report showed this morning that on average, big oil firms’ forecourt reached the milestone, but it could have been much worse.

The AA said while prices for petrol shot up by 22p a lite on average between May and mid-June, representing £12, had Asda not held back some of the surge it would have been worse.

They bemoaned the fact that the steep and steady rise in forecourt prices has come while the wholesale price of petrol has been falling, with petrol heading to the pumps being 7.5p cheaper than before the Platinum Jubilee weekend.

This comes after the government announced a fuel tax in the spring budget, and the Competition and Market Authorities launched an investigation into why consumers were not being passed on the cut.

The AA said the CMA would “not only look at the extent to which the 5p fuel duty cut announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Statement was reflected in retail prices but also fuel price transparency and the ‘pass-through’ of lower costs.

The group also showed a major gap had opened up in price variation from big four supermarket chains’ fuel pumps. A month ago it was an average of 1p and this week, it’s moved to 3.5p.

“What drivers are experiencing this week provides a clear illustration of what is going wrong,” said Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman.

 
“Aside from the rampant pump price postcode lottery, the current drop in the wholesale price of petrol is a carbon copy of what happened in the run-up to the 5p fuel duty cut.

“Once again, retailers have failed to pass on significant falls in fuel costs as savings to their customers. Worse still, they have then heaped further price rises on to drivers.”