Petrol is back above £1.65 a litre for the primary time since Rishi Sunak cut fuel duty by 5p – because the AA warns drivers should brace for ‘much higher’ rises
- Average UK petrol price rose to 165.05p on Wednesday – the primary time above £1.65 because the Chancellor announced the fuel duty cut on 23 March
- Diesel can also be as much as 179.55p a litre this week – that just 0.35p off the UK record
- AA says prices drivers can expect to see forecourt prices rise in coming weeks
- Increased US summer demand traditionally inflates price of oil this time of yr
The fee of filling up will hit record highs in coming weeks, warned the AA, after it confirmed average petrol prices had risen above £1.65 a litre – for the primary time because the Chancellor’s fuel duty cut in March.
Official data shows the typical unleaded price is now as much as 165.05p, while diesel has edged inside half a penny of the UK record high, after reaching 179.55p this week.
The motoring group says drivers should brace for pump prices to rise ‘much higher’ and ‘prepare their funds for further substantial increases’.
Petrol is back above £1.65 a litre for the primary time since Chancellor’s fuel duty cut and diesel is inside half a penny of latest record high: AA warns drivers should brace for ‘much higher’ rises in coming weeks
Wednesday was the primary time the UK average price of petrol exceeded £1.65 since 23 March, the day of Rishi Sunak’s spring statement where he announced measures to ease the burden of the associated fee of living crisis on Britons.
The day before the Chancellor announced he was immediately lowering the quantity of tax paid on each litre of fuel by 5p, unleaded was at a record high of 167.30p.
On 23 March, it dipped below £1.65 and until yesterday hadn’t gone above that price.
With drivers of vehicles powered by diesel engines already paying near record pump prices, the difference in the associated fee of filling up in comparison with last yr is stark.
Forecourts were charging a median of 127.97p for petrol and 130.30p for diesel on 12 months ago – 37.08p and 49.25p per litre lower than today respectively.
Meaning filling the everyday 55-litre petrol tank is now £90.78, in comparison with £70.38 a yr ago, says the AA, an increase of 29 per cent.
For somebody using a Transit-type van, the associated fee of refuelling an 80-litre tank is nearly £40 dearer, rising from £104.24 in May 2021 to £143.64 this week.
The UK average price of petrol has remained below £1.65 a litre because the Chancellor announced the 5p cut to fuel duty on 23 March
And the motoring group says worse looks set to return for the nation’s drivers in the approaching weeks, despite the actual fact their cars might be more economical in the following few months than what they’re within the winter.
‘Petrol prices look to rise much higher in the approaching weeks and other people who depend on their cars for essential each day trips, similar to driving to work, need to organize their funds for further substantial increases,’ explained Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman.
‘The summer weather and more driving in daylight will take a number of the sting out of the pump price rises.
‘Motorized vehicles needs to be convalescing fuel consumption in comparison with March.’
The AA said pump prices were all the time set to spiral again, as rising summer demand within the US generally inflates the value of oil right now of the yr.
‘Rapid price increases on the forecourt boards might be what catches drivers’ attention,’ Bosdet added.
‘In a single respect, the value increases were predictable on condition that the summer motoring season all the time results in higher petrol costs – US demand all the time shoots up and increases commodity values.
‘Nevertheless, the rising price of oil and weaker pound have contributed also.’
What’s fuel duty?
When the Chancellor announced a 5p-a-litre cut to fuel duty, it presented an opportune time to present you a refresher course on what it actually is.
Rishi Sunak confirmed in his Spring Statement that he has trimmed the levy on every litre of fuel from 57.95p-a-litre to 52.95p as a part of efforts to ease the burden of record petrol and diesel prices on motorists.
It is just the second cut to fuel duty in 20 years (the primary was in March 2011) and the lower rate of duty might be kept in place until March 2023. The RAC calculates that it’s going to reduce the associated fee of filling a typical 55-litre family petrol automobile by around £3.
Here we explain how much fuel duty contributes towards the whole cost of petrol and diesel, when it was first introduced, how expensive it’s as compared to taxation in other countries and what the longer term is for the levy when cars switch to electric power…
> Read our fuel duty explainer here
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