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Asda is now the UK’s most expensive supermarket fuel seller, research shows, after the retailer’s private owners ditched their long-standing promise to be the cheapest on the market.
The retailer, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and their private equity partner TDR Capital in 2021, charged an average of 2.1 palitre more for unleaded petrol than rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons at the end of May, according to RAC analysis.
The difference in average diesel prices is even wider, at 2.5pa a litre, according to the study, which uses data collected by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which closely monitors fuel prices over efforts to ensure that drivers are not defrauded.
The Issa brothers made their fortune from gas stations. After acquiring Asda, they folded part of their forecourt business, EG Group, into the supermarket chain. At the time of the deal in May 2023, Mohsin Issa said it would allow it to offer “Asda’s highly competitive fuel” to more customers.
Composite: SOPA Images/Alamy/Getty
The RAC said that for many years Asda “prided itself on selling the cheapest fuel”, often being the first supermarket to cut pump prices.
The RAC’s senior policy officer, Rod Dennis, said: “Asda no longer holds the crown for selling the cheapest fuel despite the promise it made when it was the subject of a merger a year ago.
“The other big three supermarkets, as well as some enterprising independents, are now offering lower prices.”
Asda said it was still the cheapest fuel retailer in its major supermarkets but admitted it charged higher prices in its stores where the market was different.
He said if these smaller outlets were excluded, Asda offered unleaded fuel at an average price of 145.12p compared to the next cheapest supermarket, which he said was Morrisons at 145.17p, while Tesco supermarkets sold fuel for average 145.52p.
An Asda spokesman said: “We remain focused on providing our customers with the best value at the pumps as we grow in the convenience sector. In May we reduced the price of unleaded gas and diesel by a combined average of 2.31p per litre.”
The CMA, which last month was given the power to monitor the fuel market and report abuses to the government, published a report in July last year which stated that Asda’s target fuel margin – the difference between what it pays for fuel and the price at the pump – is three times higher in 2023 than in 2019.
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In January, TDR Capital managing director Gary Lindsay told the House of Commons business and trade committee that Asda had “no concrete strategy to raise the price of fuel or make more profit from fuel”.
The RAC analysis found that across all UK suburbs, the price of petrol fell by an average of 2.4p a liter last month to 147.9p. Diesel prices fell 4.5p a liter to 153.6p.
Dennis said pump prices need to fall much faster to reflect the drop in wholesale costs.
He said: “When it comes to much-needed reductions in pump prices, it’s unfortunately been too little, too slowly, with most motorists still getting a miserable deal every time they fill up. We’re back in classic “rocket and feather” territory.with pump prices only falling when they should really be falling like a rock.”
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