The price of petrol at forecourts across the UK increased by nearly 7p (6.68p) per litre in August, while diesel went up by 8p, RAC data shows.
This represents the fifth and sixth biggest monthly rises in 23 years, the motoring organisation said.
At the end of the month, the average price of unleaded petrol stood at 152.25p — up from 145.57p at the beginning of the month, adding nearly £4 on average to the cost of filling a tank (£80 to £83.74). Diesel rose from 146.36p to 154.37p, making a fill-up nearly £4.50 (£4.41) more expensive.
Higher oil prices are behind the increase in fuel costs, with a barrel of oil up $12 since the start of July to nearly $87 ($86.86), after producer group OPEC+ reduced supply. This, in turn, increased the wholesale cost of fuel paid by retailers.
However, RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said that drivers would have paid even higher prices if the biggest retailers had not chosen to reduce their margins to more normal levels as wholesale fuel costs went up.
“Wholesale costs for both petrol and diesel started to rise in late July on the back of oil hitting $85,” Williams explained. “While the barrel price has stayed at that level throughout August, retailers had no choice but to pass on their increased costs at the pumps. Fortunately for drivers though, they have clearly been influenced by the Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation as, all of a sudden, margins are once again closer to their longer-term averages. It appears they used the wholesale price rise to subtly cover their tracks — after all, big reductions at the pumps soon after the CMA’s findings were announced would perhaps have been far too obvious a step.
“All we can hope is that this move by many big retailers back to fairer forecourt pricing remains when wholesale costs go down again.”
