Supermarket Fuel Margins Soar Amid Ukraine War
Before the Ukraine conflict, the UK’s big four supermarkets were pocketing just under 5p a litre on fuel—3.7p for petrol and 5.7p for diesel. Now, that margin has doubled to around 10p a litre, with petrol at 9.3p and diesel even higher at 10.8p.
Sky-High Margins as Prices Fluctuate
RAC Fuel Watch data from 2022 revealed supermarket margins on petrol spiked to nearly 11p a litre, hitting a jaw-dropping 20p following record pump prices of 191.5p in July, thanks to soaring oil costs.
This year, diesel margins have ballooned to an average of 15p a litre. Wholesale diesel prices plummeted but savings weren’t fully passed on to drivers. In fact, during three months from late March, wholesale prices were below forecourt prices, pushing supermarket margins up to 23p a litre in May.
Margins Have Risen Dramatically Over the Years
- 2016: Supermarket margin was just 2.3p a litre.
- 2019: Margin climbed steadily to 5.7p and stayed that way through the pandemic.
- 2022: Margin surged by 54% to over 9p a litre.
- 2023: Margin averages close to 11p a litre and rising.
RAC Calls Out Supermarkets for Ripping Off Drivers
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said:
“Lower fuel prices helped push inflation down to 7.9% last month, but our data shows prices could have been even cheaper if supermarkets had passed on wholesale savings. The big four have milked brutally volatile wholesale markets caused by the Ukraine war for all they’re worth.”
“They hiked their petrol margin by 5p a litre in 2022 and boosted diesel margins by nearly 8p this year by delaying price cuts when wholesale costs dropped. Diesel margins are now double what they were from 2019 to 2022.”
“These bloated profits sting millions of drivers already struggling with the cost of living. Everyone’s paying more than they should depending on where they fill up.”
“We welcome the Government’s crackdown after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report revealed supermarkets overcharged drivers by £900 million in 2022. The push to create a price monitoring body and require live price updates for fuel finder apps is long overdue.”
“Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has urged retailers to provide real-time prices immediately, but fairer prices won’t show up until a monitoring body is empowered to penalise firms failing to reflect wholesale price drops.”
“We’ll keep pushing the CMA for full fuel price transparency.”
How Drivers Can Save
The RAC is helping drivers cut costs by up to 6p a litre using its myRAC app, the UK’s most accurate daily fuel finder.
Drivers can also track fuel prices and margins at supermarkets and motorway services on the RAC Fuel Watch page.
