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New Energy World magazine logo
New Energy World magazine logo
ISSN 2753-7757 (Online)

Trends in the 2023 UK fuel retail market

24/4/2024

8 min read

Feature

Row of electric powered cars lined up and repowering at charging points under forecourt canopy Photo: BP Pulse
The opening of the UK’s largest public EV charging hub at the NEC in Birmingham in September 2023 marked a ‘significant step’ in the rollout of EV charging infrastructure in the UK, according to Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, Jeremy Hunt

Photo: BP Pulse

The Energy Institute’s (EI) Knowledge, Insights and Research team has gathered a wealth of UK forecourt and electric vehicle charging point data as part of the latest Retailing Market Survey (RMS). Here, Claire Cortis AMEI, Digital Knowledge and Information Manager, discusses the emerging trends.

The uncertainty in 2022 caused by continuing COVID-related supply chain issues and the Ukraine war that affected the retail fuel industry continued to be felt in 2023. Whilst fuel prices fluctuated wildly, prompting closer scrutiny by the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), electric vehicles (EVs) continued to rise in popularity. Their market share continued to increase, so did the number of charging points across the UK. These trends are reflected in the latest EI’s Retail Marketing Survey.

 

Fuel prices and sales     
The second highest fuel forecourt price spike in history occurred in 2023, beaten only by prices in the previous year. The average price of unleaded petrol was 148.27 pence per litre (p/l) and the average price of diesel was 159.45 p/l, making unleaded petrol on average 10.3% cheaper (16.94 p/l cheaper) and diesel on average 10.6% (18.93 p/l cheaper) than in 2022 (see Fig 1).

 

graph showing ups and downs of average petrol prices in the UK, 2022–2023

Fig 1: Average petrol prices in the UK, 2022–2023   
Source: Experian Catalist

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