Petrol and diesel prices remain at a three-year low despite a brief spike in the cost of oil in early October.
A litre of petrol averaged 135.2p on the country’s forecourts last month; up just a third of a pence on September, meaning the cost of filling up a 55-litre family car is £74.40, new RAC data shows.
Diesel rose by two-thirds of a pence to 140.2p, taking the cost of a tank for a family car to just over £77.
Filling up at a supermarket can currently save drivers 3p a litre, or nearly £2 a tank. The average price of unleaded bought at one of the 1,487 supermarket forecourts is 132p and diesel is 136.8p.
The stability in fuel prices is yet more good news for drivers following the Chancellor’s extension of the 5p duty cut at her first-ever Budget last week.
But the RAC warned that UK diesel is the most expensive in Europe and has been so for 21 of the last 27 weeks.
And fuel in Northern Ireland is still over 5p a litre cheaper; petrol currently averages 130.4p and diesel 134.1p. Meanwhile, unleaded at membership-only retailer Costco’s 20 stores in England and Scotland is 127p a litre and diesel is 131.7p – more than 8p less than the UK averages.
The RAC also said the Budget announcement on government aims to allow the Competition and Markets Authority to use its statutory powers to monitor competition in the road fuels retail market in just two months’ time boded well.
The Government has acknowledged that “this function will be crucial in providing ongoing scrutiny of prices and considering whether further action may be needed to protect consumers”.
And by the end of 2025, the Government’s ‘Fuel Finder’ scheme will come into force, obliging every retailer to report their prices to a central database within 30 minutes of a change being made.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “We hope the Government’s actions will ensure drivers get a fairer deal every time they fill up.”
