Petrol up 6p a litre already in 2024 – and Asda is no longer the cheapest place to fill up

Motorists saw the price of filling up with petrol increase yet again last month despite the Chancellor’s announcement in March that fuel duty will remain frozen for a 14th year and a 5p-a-litre cut has been extended for another 12 months.

Official data shows that the average price of a litre of unleaded rose 1.86p to 146.48.

It means petrol is already around 6p a litre more expensive now that it was at the end of December.

And the nationwide review of forecourts shows Asda – which has for years offered the lowest prices – is no longer the cheapest place to refuel…

Petrol price surge in 2024: The average price of a litre of unleaded is now 146.48p. This is 5.9p more expensive than it was on 31 December 2023 (140.58p) with prices rising in each of the first three months of this year

The RAC Fuel Watch report for March shows that diesel also rose last month by more than a penny from 154.68p to 155.99p (1.31p). 

This confirms three consecutive months of rises for both fuel types in an additional blow to driver’s finances as the cost-of-living squeeze drags into 2024. 

Petrol is now 5.9p pricier than it was on 31 December 2023 (140.58p) and diesel is 6.81p more expensive (149.18p).

When brimming the 55-litre tank of an average family car, each visit to forecourts is costing drivers an extra £3.25 and £3.76 in 2024 than it was last year for the respective fuels. 

What’s pushing UK fuel prices higher? 

While the increase in forecourt prices was driven by a 5 per cent rise in the cost of a barrel of oil (from $83.55 to $87.48) in March, a surge in demand for petrol in the US ahead of the summer triggered the wholesale price of unleaded to rise to match that of diesel. 

This increase in wholesale prices has squeezed the average retailer profit margin on each litre of petrol, which has fallen from 10.5p at the start of March to 8p by the close of the month.

However, the RAC said it believes this could also be due to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raising concerns about higher retailer margins last week.

Figures held by the CMA show that even the lower margins for petrol by the end of March are more than double what retailers were pocketing back in 2017.

The average margin on diesel is 11p, up by a penny in March. 

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘The rising cost of oil, combined with the pound still only being worth a meagre $1.3, has led to another month of misery at the pumps with the price of petrol going up 2p a litre.’ 

Typically, Asda’s fuel forecourts have been the cheapest place to fill up with petrol and diesel in the UK in recent years. But this is no longer the case…

Asda no longer the cheapest place to fill up. Where is? 

Supermarkets typically offer the least expensive fuel prices across the country. 

And for years it has been Asda forecourts that have led the way, either by being the first to cut their prices or to shave an extra penny on the competition.

But this is no longer the case.

Instead, it is rival Tesco that had the cheapest unleaded on 31 March at an average of 142.7p across its 511 forecourts.

In contrast to convention, Asda’s petrol was the most expensive of the ‘gig four’ at 145p. 

Asda also had a monumental 34p price difference between its cheapest and most expensive litre of petrol sold across the UK. 

The grocer charged 138.7p at its Guildford forecourt and 172.9p at junction 29A of the M1 near Sheffield – a Shell-branded site operated by Asda. Comparatively, Tesco had the smallest difference between its lowest and highest prices at just 6p (138.9p v 144.9p)

Tesco now offers the cheapest petrol. The average cost of a litre of unleaded is 142.7p across the grocer’s 511 forecourts

Asda has gone from being the cheapest supermarket retailer to the most expensive, RAC Fuel Watch found

READ MORE: How YOU can cut your fuel bills: Ten hypermiling tips

With petrol and diesel prices rising by around 6p a litre already this year, filling up at forecourts continues to put a strain on motorists’ finances in 2024.

That’s why learning to ‘hypermile’ will benefit all drivers. This is the name given to a series of energy efficient measures motorists can put into practice to save petrol, diesel or electricity (if you own an EV). 

Using really simple hypermiling techniques – like those listed below – ‘can easily save the equivalent of 9p-a-litre’, says the AA. 

> Read our 10 hypermiling tips 

At the end of March, Sainsbury’s sold the cheapest unleaded at 136.9p at two sites – one in Wolverhampton and one at Dungannon in Northern Ireland. 

Tesco, however, was charging its lowest price – 138.9p – at 30 separate forecourts.

Asda, on the other hand, was only charging its lowest petrol price of 138.7p at one of its 658 forecourts.

Sainsbury’s and Tesco were tied for the lowest average diesel price across their portfolios at 151.7p and 151.8p. 

Asda’s gap between its cheapest and most expensive diesel was 35.2p (147.7p at Guildford, Torquay and two in Northern Ireland v 182.9p at the Shell-branded site it runs near junction 29 of the M1).

Tesco had the smallest gap of just 6p between diesel at its forecourts (148.9p v 154.9p) while Morrisons was also under 10p (145.7p v 154.9p) Sainsbury’s had the cheapest diesel at 142.9p, but this was only available at Andersontown, near Belfast, in Northern Ireland. 

Tesco’s lowest price of 148.9p was, however, on offer at 45 of its forecourts.

Sainsbury’s is the cheapest place to fill up if you have a diesel car. Again, motorists are best to avoid Asda, which is the most expensive of the big four supermarket fuel retailers

When looking at non-supermarket fuel sellers, BP and Shell-operated forecourts were found to have very large differences between their cheapest and highest fuel prices. 

For unleaded, BP has a gap of 27p (142.9p v 169.9p) and Shell 26p (143.9p v 169.9p) across their 287 and 536 forecourts. 

For diesel, it is 30p for BP (149.9p v 179.9p) and 26p for Shell (153.9p v 179.9p).

Williams added: ‘Sadly, Asda appears not to be the force it once was in fuel retailing. 

‘Gone are the days when it used to announce big headline-grabbing pump price cuts when wholesale prices fell, along with a promise at the time that drivers would never pay more than a certain low price at any of its forecourts.’

The RAC’s fuel expert says consumer now ‘badly need’ to see the end of postcode-lottery charges for petrol and diesel and for the Government to push ahead with its ‘Pumpwatch’ ambitions to make it a requirement for retailers to publish their pricing within 30 minutes of making changes.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk