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upermarkets have greater than doubled their margins on gas for the reason that begin of the struggle in Ukraine , new evaluation suggests.
The RAC mentioned Asda , Tesco , Morrisons and Sainsbury’s had been making a median of round 4.7p per litre on gas gross sales when the Russian invasion started in February 2022.
The motoring providers firm discovered this had elevated to round 10p per litre, resulting in greater pump costs.
Everyone is paying greater than they need to be to a lesser or higher extent relying on the place they stay
Supermarket gas margins had been 2.3p per litre in 2016.
Lower gas costs helped drive a drop within the Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation final month to 7.9%, down from 8.7% in May.
RAC gas spokesman Simon Williams mentioned the decline might have been even sharper if grocery store pump worth reductions had been “in line with cheaper wholesale costs”.
He went on: “While we accept the cost of running forecourts might have increased, these bloated margins must make difficult reading for the millions of drivers who are already battling the rising cost of living.
(The CMA’s) recommendation that a price monitoring body is set up and that retailers are mandated to provide live prices for fuel finder apps is very welcome and long overdue
“In short, this means everyone is paying more than they should be to a lesser or greater extent depending on where they live.
“We hope artificially high pump prices will become a thing of the past due to the actions promised by the Government resulting from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report earlier this month that showed supermarkets had overcharged drivers to the tune of £900 million last year.
“Their recommendation that a price monitoring body is set up and that retailers are mandated to provide live prices for fuel finder apps is very welcome and long overdue.”
CMA director of markets Dan Turnbull instructed the Commons’ Business and Trade Committee on Wednesday that Asda’s pence per litre gas margin targets had been 3 times greater this yr than in 2019.
He added that the retailer intentionally handed on reductions in wholesale prices extra slowly in areas the place it had no competitors.
An Asda spokesperson mentioned: “Asda is proud to be a fuel price leader – and an Asda petrol station in a local area keeps prices down for all motorists. In support of calls for greater transparency in fuel pricing, we will be making our prices visible for all of our fuel stations in the coming weeks so motorists can be confident they are getting the best prices when filling up at Asda.”
Supermarket gas retailers had been approached for a remark.
