Asda has said it will lower the price of fuel at its gas stations to help motorists save money when refueling.
The supermarket said Friday it has cut the cost of unleaded by 5 cents per liter and diesel by 3 cents per liter.
Drivers now pay an average of 174p per liter for unleaded and 185p per liter for diesel when refueling at Asda’s 323 service stations in the UK.
Asda had already cut prices by 4p per liter earlier this week, meaning the supermarket has cut fuel prices by 9p per liter for unleaded and 7p per liter for diesel since Monday.
It comes after the supermarket – along with Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and several other suppliers – has been criticized for failing to cut prices in line with falling wholesale prices since record highs in early July.
Sainsbury’s said it also plans to cut prices, although they will vary as supermarket prices use fuel locally.
Morrisons also said it has cut prices this week and will cut more on Saturday morning, although the supermarket will not announce a general cut.
“We continue to lower our prices as we strive to be among the cheapest in the areas where we operate,” a spokesperson said.
Previously, the RAC said the prices of the big four supermarkets have recently mirrored the UK average, while they are usually around 4p cheaper.
The salvage company said the cost of unleaded at retailers should have fallen 16 pence since July’s record highs to 174 pence per liter, according to its calculations.
Yet supermarkets had reduced the price of a liter by only 5.5 pence on average.
As for diesel, RAC said prices had only fallen by 4p per liter since record highs in July, but supermarkets had to cut them by a further 6p per liter to bring the average price down to 189p per litre.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said that by cutting its prices to an average of 174p per liter for unleaded and 185p per liter for diesel, Asda should now get other retailers to cut their prices.
However, he criticized the move for being “late” because motorists have been missing the point for weeks.
He said: ‘This is good news for drivers as it will cause other retailers to lower their prices, but it comes too late as the wholesale price of petrol has fallen significantly over the past seven weeks.
“This means that motorists under heavy pressure have been hit, while retailers achieved a margin of 20 p/litre, much higher than normal.”
AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet welcomed Asda’s ‘impressive’ move.
He said: ‘Asda’s price movement is impressive, effectively cutting 10 pence per liter from the average UK petrol price.
“That’s potentially a fiver from a tank for those filling up this weekend, compared to the artificially inflated prices at too many big gas stations and in too many cities.”
Tesco has been approached for comment.
Contact our news team by sending an email to: [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.