Guarantee demanded by Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander Over concerns Petrol Price remains high when oil prices are low
We’ve often heard Americans complain about fuel prices in the US, but if they saw the price of petrol here in the UK something tells me you would be bringing them round with smelling salts.
The price of petrol in the UK always seems to go up but never comes down. It’s an ever increasing burden on the motorist.
The Petrol companies blame the fact that 60% of the petrol price in the UK is because of Tax taken by the treasury and the MPs claim it’s the petrol companies being slow on the uptake when the cost of a barrel of oil falls.
The Price of Petrol in the UK
Petrol companies don’t seem to pass on the savings to customers by lowering the price when the price of oil falls, they seem to be dilatory like snails crossing a glacier, taking months for customers to see any change in prices but when the price of oil rises they’re more like thoroughbred horses bolting with excitement out of the gate.
Customers see an instant increase on the price at the petrol station within days when the price of a barrel of oil goes up.
Treasury Chief Secretary said “Fuel should fall like a stone, not a feather”
Danny Alexander the Treasury Chief Secretary said “consumers feel petrol prices rise ‘like a rocket’ when oil costs go up, but fall ‘like a feather’ when they come down and people would rightly be angry if they felt prices were not coming down as much as they should.”
Brent crude slumped to $82 (£51) a barrel this week, over concerns of over-supply, oils lowest level in over four years.
The Treasury Chief Secretary wants oil companies and distributors like supermarket forecourts to guarantee they are doing everything in their power to cut prices and alleviate the cost to hard pressed motorists when the price goes down.
No Evidence to Petrol Prices Staying High
There has been inconclusive evidence that it is the case that oil companies and distributors are failing to pass on the price of oil when it falls to customers.
ASDA is to announce it’s cutting petrol and diesel by 1p
ASDA is likely to trigger a price war when it lowers it’s petrol and diesel prices by 1p to 119.7pm and 123.7p a litre the lowest it’s been in four years.
Is The Cost of Petrol in The UK All Down to The Oil Companies
Professor Stephen Glaister of the RAC said “It’s encouraging that Mr Alexander shares the concerns of the nation’s drivers, but in a way he is passing the buck. The biggest driver of pump prices remains the Government, well over 60% of the price is tax.”
AA president Edmund King added “They themselves could do more. First policies to help strengthen the pound by just 10 cents against the dollar would double the potential for a 2p a litre fall in the price of petrol to 4p.”
“Secondly, the Government’s failure to introduce fuel price transparency, showing the relationship between oil, wholesale and pump prices, has helped no one.”
UK petrol prices are ridiculous, we really shouldn’t be seeing these fluctuations!