Petrol prices at four-year low

Richard Aucock, Contributor
Wed, 11 Jun 2025

Fuel prices have fallen for three consecutive months – meaning pump prices are now the lowest in almost four years.

RAC Fuel Watch data shows petrol is the cheapest since July 2021, while diesel is now as cheap as it was in September 2021.

The average price of a litre of petrol fell from 134p at the start of May to 132.2p by the end. Diesel prices fell from 140.5p to 138.4p.

The price cuts mean filling the average 55-litre tank of petrol or diesel is £1 cheaper than at the start of May.

What’s more, the ongoing price cuts mean drivers are now saving around £4 a tank since the end of February.

Fuel is even cheaper at supermarkets, averaging 129p a litre for petrol and 135p for diesel – both 3p a litre lower than the UK averages.

A Sainsbury’s store in Huddersfield has among the lowest pump prices, charging just 121.9p a litre for petrol.

Another Sainsbury’s store in Belfast has the cheapest diesel, at 126.9p a litre. Drivers filling up at both stores would save almost £6 per tankful compared to the UK average.

"While this takes us back to prices last seen almost four years ago, it’s worth remembering that prices are lower today because the 5p duty cut, first introduced in March 2022, is still being applied," says RAC head of policy Simon Williams.

"If it wasn’t for the fuel duty freeze, prices could well be much higher."

Williams adds that there’s still room for price cuts with current fuel prices. With oil averaging $64 a barrel throughout May, he says the average price of petrol ought to be under 130p and diesel under 134p.

"Hopefully retailers will continue to reduce their prices, so we see four months of falling costs at the pumps at the end of June."

Ask HJ

Why is 100 RON fuel not sold in the UK?

Recently on holiday in Greece I noticed that some petrol stations were were selling three grades of unleaded petrol, 95, 98 and 100 ron. The first two are readily available in the UK, but I cannot recall seeing the last named in this country. Why is it not sold here and would it give a petrol or petrol/hybrid car an advantage?

Most fuel stations in the UK will sell two grades of unleaded - standard 95 RON and super unleaded which is usually between 97 and 99 RON, including Shell V-Power, Total Excellium Unleaded and Tesco Momentum 99 which are 99 RON. BP did sell 102 RON fuel for a limited time at a small number of filling stations, but this has been discontinued. Generally speaking high octane fuels only bring tangible benefits for performance cars as the car's ECU will adjust the engine's parameters to get the most benefit from the higher octane. While conventional petrol cars and hybrids may benefit slightly from higher octane fuel, the performance gain is marginal considering the extra cost. The reason it is not sold in the UK is likely to be a lack of demand, as BP's experiment with 102 RON fuel would suggest.

Answered by David Ross

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