Yahoo Finance Petrol prices: Overcharging at pumps to make this Christmas the most expensive ever
The Christmas period set to be the most expensive ever for motorists as they continue to be overcharged at the pumps.
A full tank of petrol is £4.50 more expensive than last Christmas, while the price of filling up with diesel is £15 more than last year, according to research from the RAC.
Petrol is currently being sold for an average of 152.96p per litre, which is 7p more than it was on 22 December last year, when it was 145.66p per litre.
The price of diesel is now 27p more expensive at the pump than it was a year ago, at 175.75p compared to 148.95p per litre.
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However, the rise in Christmas prices should not be hurting drivers’ pockets as much as it is, as the wholesale price of petrol has fallen to just 106p a litre.
This year's price even includes the government’s 5p fuel duty discount which was introduced in March to ease the pain of rising fuel prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The RAC calculated that the average price of petrol should be around 138p, 15p cheaper than it actually is, and that diesel should be around 160p a litre, 13p cheaper than it is now.
Last year's fuel prices were previously the most expensive Christmas prices ever for drivers.
According to the RAC, the cost of driving to see family and friends is nearly £4 more that last Christmas.
The average Christmas journey is now £84, compared to £80 last Christmas.
For those travelling in diesel cars it’s even worse, with a fill-up now costing nearly £97, almost £15 more than last year when it was £82.
The price that customers pay for petrol and diesel at the pumps is governed by wholesale fuel prices.
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The wholesale prices of petrol and diesel are the cost of fuel leaving the refinery gate and the government's added fuel duty.
This cost is a good deal less than the retail price of petrol and diesel at the pumps.
Wholesale prices are affected by the supply and demand for crude oil, oil refinery production and capacity, the pound to dollar exchange rate, as refined fuel is sold in US dollars per metric tonne.
The fuel duty that is charged by the government, is currently 52.95p per litre, and the VAT charged at the end of every forecourt fuel transaction is currently at 20%.
