Supermarket giants Asda, Morrisons and Tesco have cut fuel prices in the UK by up to 2p per litre.
The price war comes in spite of predictions that fuel prices would rise following brexit. Last week British fuel retailers were accused of 'opportunistic profiteering' after it was revealed that many retailers were failing to pass on savings to the consumer, however the cuts are likely to send prices tumbling across the country.
Asda has announced a national cap, meaning motorists will not pay more than 105.7p per litre (ppl) on unleaded and 106.7ppl on diesel across its 272 stations. Tesco rolled out a 2p drop that came into effect at 5pm on Monday.
Peter Cattell, fuel director for Tesco, said: “We know that lots of customers will have plans for the summer holidays, so we’re dropping the price of our fuel to help them enjoy it even more. This reduction of up to 2p per litre on petrol and diesel at our 500 petrol filling stations will mean millions of customers save money by shopping at Tesco.”
Andy Peake, Asda’s senior director for petrol, said: “We always pass on any savings we can make to our customers, so it’s great to see that costs have dropped despite early predictions that the cost of fuel would increase following the outcome of the EU referendum.”
Last week, Morrisons kicked off the price cut by reducing the price of unleaded by 2p a litre – also cutting up to 1p a litre off diesel.
Roger Fogg, Morrisons’ services director, said at the time: “Among post-Brexit fuel price uncertainty, we are doing all we can to hold down prices for our customers.”
Oil dropped to $43 a barrel recently, the lowest level since early May.
In July, the RAC said the price retailers paid for fuel had been falling for almost a month but pump prices remained largely static over the same period. The company’s spokesman, Simon Williams, praised the price drop, but said it was a shame it did not come sooner.
“This price cut takes us back to a supermarket price that was last seen in early May. Hopefully other supermarkets will follow suit which will drive prices down across the country,” he said. “If that happens we should see the average price of both petrol and diesel drop from around 112p a litre to 110p.”
Luke Bosdet from the AA added: “Drivers are in a good place with pump prices this summer, paying as much as 5p a litre less than a year ago. However, with the weaker pound, it’s more a case of pump paradise lost than pump paradise found.”
He said had the pound regained last summer’s value against the dollar, summer petrol prices in the UK would have been at a seven-year low.
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