Drivers escape price hike as fuel duty frozen again in Autumn Statement

22 November 2023 , 20:27

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Fuel duty on both petrol and diesel is 52.95p per litre (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Millions of drivers swerved a price hike at the petrol pumps after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt chose not to announce a fuel duty rise in his Autumn Statement.

The 5p-a-litre cut in fuel duty, announced during the Budget last year, will now remain in place until at least next year. Fuel duty is a tax on petrol, diesel, biodiesel and bioethanol and is included in the price you pay for every litre of fuel you buy.

Currently, fuel duty on both petrol and diesel is 52.95p per litre and this rate has been frozen since 2011. But retailers have to play their part and pass on the lower rate to customers.

Read our Autumn Statement live blog for the latest updates

The Chancellor was under pressure to keep the fuel duty freeze in place to help drivers with the cost of living. Unleaded petrol currently costs 150.69p per litre on average, according to the RAC, while diesel is 157.78p per litre.

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Fuel duty was temporarily cut by 5p to 52.95p in 2022, but the rate is due to expire in March 2024. It remained unclear whether a return to the 57.95p fuel duty was on the Chancellor's to-do list, however.

Meanwhile, retailers were also under pressure to help with the fuel price burden. Supermarkets' profit margins fell recently, while average fuel prices continued to rise by an average of 11p per litre since May.

Earlier this year, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Harriet Baldwin MP, claimed retailers had "pocketed" the benefit of the 5p fuel duty. It was revealed that while the cut had been passed onto customers, the increased profit margins cancelled out the benefit.

She told the BBC's Today programme: "The thing that annoys me from a Treasury point of view is that the chancellor cut fuel duty by 5p to help families with their cost of living and yet it doesn't seem to have been passed on."

Don't forget, you can also save some pennies on your fuel by signing up to some supermarket reward schemes.

A lot of retailers, including Sainsbury's and Tesco, give customers money off their fuel bills by simply buying other products in-store.

Levi Winchester