Drivers suffer fourth month of rising prices at the pumps
The price of petrol and diesel has risen for the fourth straight month, making unleaded 5p a litre more expensive than it was at the start of October and diesel 6p more, new data from RAC Fuel Watch* shows.
Petrol went up 2p a litre in January to an average of 139p (136.9p at start of 2025) and diesel by nearly 3p to 145.7p (from 142.9p). This means filling up a 55-litre family petrol car is more than £2 more expensive than it was four months ago (£76.44, compared to £74.25 when a litre was 135p) and diesel more than £3 more expensive (£80.15 a tank, compared to £76.70 when a litre was 139.5p).
The RAC says the rises have been driven by a mid-month spike in the oil price which saw the cost of a barrel shoot up above $80 for several days. This, together with a slight weakening in the value of the pound which made wholesale fuel more expensive to buy, had an unwelcome effect on the UK’s forecourts.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “It’s not been a good start to 2025 for drivers at the pumps with prices going up for the fourth month in a row. Sadly, filling up is now nearly £3 more expensive than it was at the start of October.
“We hope this trend won’t continue and that prices drop back down again. Much, of course, depends on global oil supply and demand. While the price of oil can be notoriously volatile, there’s reason to think forecourt fuel prices may get cheaper in the coming months as some analysts are predicting an average oil price nearer to $70 this year.”
RAC Fuel Watch data also showed the average price of a litre of unleaded bought at one of the big four supermarkets rose by 1.6p a litre to 134p and diesel by almost 2p to 141.6p. Supermarket-bought petrol is currently 3.5p cheaper than the UK average, while diesel is 4p lower.
The average price of petrol at a motorway service station went up by 3.5p in January. Petrol is now 161.9p a litre and diesel 169.83p.
Looking at prices around the UK, excluding motorway services, England has the most expensive unleaded at an average of 138.5p, closely followed by Wales at 137.3p and Scotland 136.9p, with Northern Ireland far cheaper at 133.1p. For diesel, England is again the dearest at 145.2p. Scotland and Wales are similar at 143.9p and 143.4p respectively, while Northern Ireland is just below 140p (137.9p).
Drivers looking to buy the cheapest petrol or diesel should use the fuel finder feature in the free myRAC app. The app, which can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play, allows users to search over a two, five or 10-mile radius, with each search giving the five cheapest prices.
The online RAC Fuel Watch resource has more information about the average price of petrol and diesel at the big four supermarkets and at motorway services. It also features graphs showing average prices since 2000.
