Tesco joins petrol pump war with 6.5p cut to unleaded after Asda’s 9p drop
Tesco has slashed its prices for petrol to help customers manage with the cost of living crisis.
The supermarket giant said the price of unleaded is set to fall by 6.5p and diesel by 4.5p, as many consumers and businesses continue to struggle with rising energy costs.
“We know how tough rising fuel bills have been for households across the UK, and so we hope that these price cuts will go some way to help – particularly as more families head out on their summer holidays this week”, said Tesco Chief Product Officer Ashwin Prasad.
Tesco also encouraged shoppers to use their club card vouchers to get more cash off, as it allowed shoppers to earn points at the pump.
This comes after Asda kicked off the pump wars, announcing it had cut 5ppl off unleaded and 3ppl for diesel last week. It was the second cut in prices in a week, taking the total to 9p off a litre of unleaded.
Forecourt prices for fuel have been criticised for not reacting quickly enough to the 5p cut in fuel duty, with the price of petrol soaring in recent months, before cooling a little in the last few weeks.
Last week, AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet commented on the drop, saying: “Asda’s price move is impressive, in effect cutting 10p a litre off the UK average price of petrol. That’s potentially a fiver off a tank for those filling up this weekend, compared to the artificially-high prices on too many major retailer forecourts and in too many towns.
“First, it was a few dozen small independent forecourts showing up the big boys. Now, Asda has called them out with on average a fiver off the cost of a tank of petrol. Latest UK pump price averages have petrol at 184.50p a litre (27 July).”