20/04/2012 12:41 | By Sean Carson, contributor, MSN Cars

Fuel prices - everything you need to know



Fuel prices - everything you need to know

The price of petrol has reached a new record high - the average cost for a litre of petrol and diesel has now hit 142.5 pence per litre and 147.9 pence per litre respectively, according to the AA.

A year ago a litre of petrol cost 135.3 pence per litre on average, with diesel at 141.6 pence per litre. The two fuels have gone up by 4.0 pence per litre and 2.4 pence per litre respectively in the last month alone.

The cheapest places to buy fuel in the UK

Continuing rises in the price of fuel is affecting millions of motorists across the UK, not helped by the uncertainty surrounding strikes by fuel tanker delivery drivers.

The graphic below from Confused.com maps out the UK's fuel price predicament in easy-to-follow terms. Among other things, it shows there's been steady growth in the price of a litre of petrol since 1991, mostly as a result of increased levies on the motorist. An average 58% of the price of a litre of fuel is now made up of tax.

VAT and fuel duty together account for 82.7 pence of the current average fuel price for a litre of petrol - meaning just 59.8 pence goes towards covering the cost of the raw materials, refining process and sales overheads.

In the midst of a large national deficit, however, it is taxes such as fuel duty that are often sustained at high levels to recoup government debt.

Fuel price facts (© Confused.com)

The cheapest places to buy fuel in the UK
Top 10 most economical cars

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