Yahoo Finance April sees second-worst monthly petrol price rise since 2000
April was one of the bleakest months for petrol prices in almost two decades.
The price of a litre of petrol shot up more than 5p to £1.28, adding £3 to the cost of filling up a 55-litre family car, according to RAC Fuel Watch.
It was the second-highest monthly rise since 2000, trailing May 2018 when petrol prices jumped 6p a litre.
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April was also the third consecutive month of price rises. In total, unleaded petrol has gone up 8.5p a litre since the beginning of February.
RAC suggested retailers have passed wholesale price increases on to customers, as the cost of oil shot up by £2.30 a barrel.
The price of diesel also rose by 3p a litre to £1.34, taking the cost of a fill to £73.54 — £1.65 more.
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RAC Fuel Watch also found the average difference between petrol and diesel wholesale prices was only a penny throughout April, yet the retail price of diesel was an average of 6p a litre more expensive than petrol throughout the month.
The UK’s four big supermarket fuel retailers — Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s — actually increased their petrol prices above the UK average. Their average for unleaded went up by 5.6p a litre, in contrast to the UK average price, which rose by 5.4p. Diesel went up by 4.1p.
Motorway petrol went up 3.6p, while diesel increased 2.8p.
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“Despite the good weather, April turned out to be one of the bleakest months ever for drivers with the second-biggest monthly rise in the price of petrol for nearly 20 years,” RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said.
“RAC Fuel Watch data shows the price of unleaded rose every single day from the end of March for three and half weeks, which is the longest run of daily price rises since May last year.”
“This will have a damaging effect on household budgets across the country and will inevitably mean there will be less money available for non-essential spending,” Williams said.
