The wholesale cost of petrol has fallen by 20p since early June, according to the RAC however major retailers are failing to pass the saving on at the pumps.
The roadside recovery firm said the wholesale cost of unleaded – the price when it arrives at forecourts – is now back down to its early May price of 131.75p per litre, which saw average pump prices of around 167p per litre.
But drivers are still currently paying an average of 179p per litre across the UK, the RAC said.
Here we’ve taken a look at the cheapest places to fill up across Swindon.
The information below is for a litre of unleaded petrol as listed on petrolprices.com on August 6 at 11am.
UNLEADED
BP Bridge End Road: 173.9p
Shell Shrivenham Road (South Marston): 174.9p
Shell Rodbourne Road: 175.9p
ASDA West Swindon & Orbital: 176.7p
DIESEL
Shell Shrivenham Road (South Marston): 184.9p
Shell Rodbourne Road: 185.9p
ASDA West Swindon & Orbital: 186.7p
Sainsbury’s Bridgemead: 187.9p
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “July has been an unnecessarily tough month for drivers due to the big four supermarkets’ unwillingness to cut their prices to a more a reasonable level, reflecting the consistent and significant reductions in the wholesale cost of petrol and diesel.
“As it was, we saw independent retailers leading the charge with fairer pump prices appearing all around the country which eventually forced the supermarkets to finally implement a more substantial cut late last Friday afternoon.
“What ought to have happened is that the biggest retailers cut their prices more significantly on a daily basis, given the wholesale price of petrol has fallen steadily over the last eight weeks. Instead, average retailer margin for petrol across the industry has been up around 20p a litre for the last two weeks – more than three times its long-term average.
“The average cost of delivered wholesale unleaded in the first week of May was 131.73p which gave rise to forecourt prices across the country hitting 167p a week later. Wholesale petrol averaged virtually the same last week which should – if retailer’s pass on the savings they’re benefitting from – in theory bring pump prices down to a similar level to what we saw in mid-May.
“The best advice for filling up is no longer to assume the supermarkets are the cheapest, but to shop around as it’s highly likely you’ll find an independent retailer which is doing the right thing and fairly reflecting their lower wholesale costs by charging a lower price. This is really encouraging because the independents buy new stock less frequently than the supermarkets as they don’t sell as much, and consequently aren’t as well positioned as their rivals to be able to snap up fuel at lower prices when there are sudden market drops.”
