Experts at the RAC are warning that people who fill their vehicles up with diesel could be paying far more at the pumps than they should be. Diesel is being sold for around 17p a litre more on average than petrol at forecourts across the country - despite wholesale prices for both fuels being virtually identical.
According to RAC Fuel Watch, the average price of a litre of petrol is 146.63p. Diesel, meanwhile, is priced at 164.26p typically, reports the Mirror.
But according to the RAC, both fuels are selling for around 114.5p on the wholesale market. RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams described the fuel price disparity as "absolutely shocking".
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He warned of a big change in fuel retailing which has seen some independent forecourts charging far less than their supermarket rivals. Mr Williams said: "At the beginning of March, wholesale diesel was only 6p more expensive than petrol yet there was a 20p-a-litre gap between both fuels on the forecourt.
"Now the two fuels are identical on the wholesale market, and there’s still more than 17p difference at the pump." He added that supermarket prices are traditionally around 4p cheaper than the UK average, meaning customers should have been seeing prices under 150p weeks ago.
Mr Williams said: "We are seeing many independent retailers charging far less than their supermarket rivals which is a sign of how much fuel retailing has changed. This would have been pretty unusual several years ago but is now rapidly becoming the norm."
The RAC also highlighted membership-only chain Costco as bucking the trend, by charging just under 150p a litre for diesel.
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