The supermarkets’ secret: Here’s how to save on your fuel bills this summer
If you're looking for cheaper fuel, then the best place to go this summer is your local supermarket, according to the AA.
Supermarkets offer a competitive price at the pump, charging on average 3.3p a litre less for petrol and 3.6p less for diesel than their rivals – equivalent to about £1.50 a tank on fuel.
Jet is the only provider that competes with the Big Four supermarkets, trailing them by about 1.8p a litre on petrol.
The need to save on fuel has become more pressing, as the UK's average price of petrol has gone up another 2.4p since mid May, now at 111.58p a litre.
This has added £4.80 to the monthly fuel bill of a family with two petrol cars.
Diesel is up 2.7p since the middle of May; drivers now pay an average 111.80p a litre.
Edmund King, AA's president, said: "This time last year pump prices were at a pivotal point: fear of a duty increase in the Chancellor’s post-election budget, after a 10p a litre surge in petrol prices since February. On the other hand, a 5p fuel duty rebate for remote rural fuel stations was doubling business for some.
"What we didn’t know was that pump prices were about to start the decline that would lead to a collapse and £1 a litre on supermarket forecourts.
"This June, drivers have suffered yet another 10p a litre leap in petrol prices since the end of January. The doubling in the price of oil seems to have reached a plateau of around $50 a barrel.
"The burning question is: what happens next?"