Is There Another Supermarket Petrol Price War On The Horizon? Let’s Hope So!
In a dramatic and calculated marketing push, supermarkets Asda and Sainsbury’s are cutting the price of petrol.
But before we get the flags out and get the street party going, let’s have a look at the facts.
From Tuesday 26th June, customers at Asda’s 196 filling stations will pay no more than 127.7p a litre for petrol and no more than 132.7p a litre for diesel, apparently the lowest price for a litre of fuel since February 2011. And this all adds up to a ‘whopping’ 14p a litre that Asda has shaved off the price since the end of April, reducing the cost of filling up a family car by almost £10.
Asda’s petrol trading director Andy Peake said: “After a weekend of falling oil prices and fading hopes of an England victory at the Euros, our petrol price cut will bring a smile back to the nation’s faces.”
Well; it could be that or it could be the fact that oil has lost almost $30 a barrel in the last few months. (In fact the price has fallen from $125 to $90 a barrel)
And Sainsbury’s said it was reducing its fuel prices too, with petrol and diesel coming down “by up to 2p per litre” from Tuesday.
But up here in the heady heights of Stockport, at Morrisons, we have been paying around 127p a litre for a while, so our fingers are crossed that that may even go down in a tit-for-tat movement. And then Asda can respond and Morrisons reduce back etc… until they pay us to fill up! (Ooops! Time to wake up)
Commenting on the news, the AA said that, although Asda had dropped its petrol price largely in line with wholesale, the UK average was down 10.5p a litre since the record high in mid-April.
AA public affairs head Paul Watters said: “We expect to see the usual behaviour of other retailers matching Asda where they need to while charging up to 4p a litre more in other towns, from southern England up into the Midlands. This winds up drivers, local and national politicians more than retailers seem to understand. The Government’s pressure for fuel price transparency may help to reduce the postcode lottery that blights fuel prices in the UK.
“It may also address the disparity between petrol versus diesel prices at wholesale level and the price gap at the pump. In April, retailers in Europe were charging less before tax for diesel than petrol. Not in the UK, of course.”
So, what all that means, and I hope he took a breath before saying all that, is that the fuel reduction is probably better news for some areas (The South of England & London) rather than others (The North and Scotland)
So, no real surprises there then.
But let’s hope it becomes a daggers drawn at dawn fight to the death between them all with the victor being the motorist standing aloft a mound of virtual supermarket bodies holding aloft a bloodied petrol (or diesel) pump.
At least before the 3p Price Rise due in August!!!!