Running costs
Fuel price history
Two years of monthly UK averages. The interesting part is not the level but the gap, which opened in spring 2026 and has not closed.
152.19p
167.59p
33.13p
Checked on 31 August 2026.Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Weekly road fuel prices (as of 31 August 2026)
Monthly average pump price
The same figures as a table
| Month | Unleaded | Diesel | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07 | 152.19 | 167.59 | 15.40 |
| 2026-06 | 155.30 | 176.44 | 21.14 |
| 2026-05 | 157.45 | 187.14 | 29.69 |
| 2026-04 | 156.86 | 189.99 | 33.13 |
| 2026-03 | 140.21 | 158.67 | 18.46 |
| 2026-02 | 131.60 | 141.12 | 9.52 |
| 2026-01 | 133.24 | 142.47 | 9.23 |
| 2025-12 | 136.34 | 145.72 | 9.38 |
| 2025-11 | 135.04 | 143.82 | 8.78 |
| 2025-10 | 134.66 | 142.77 | 8.11 |
| 2025-09 | 133.98 | 141.84 | 7.86 |
| 2025-08 | 134.22 | 142.18 | 7.96 |
| 2025-07 | 133.87 | 141.38 | 7.51 |
| 2025-06 | 131.89 | 138.49 | 6.60 |
| 2025-05 | 132.39 | 139.05 | 6.66 |
| 2025-04 | 134.55 | 141.69 | 7.14 |
| 2025-03 | 137.50 | 144.83 | 7.33 |
| 2025-02 | 139.15 | 146.42 | 7.27 |
| 2025-01 | 137.11 | 144.12 | 7.01 |
| 2024-12 | 136.29 | 142.61 | 6.32 |
| 2024-11 | 134.81 | 140.47 | 5.66 |
| 2024-10 | 133.96 | 139.13 | 5.17 |
| 2024-09 | 136.80 | 141.81 | 5.01 |
| 2024-08 | 142.32 | 147.79 | 5.47 |
What has happened to UK fuel prices over two years?
Unleaded went from 142.32p a litre in 2024-08 to 152.19p in 2026-07, and diesel from 147.79p to 167.59p. The diesel premium over petrol widened from 5.47p to 15.40p.
Fuel duty was unchanged at 52.95p a litre throughout, so every movement in the chart is wholesale price and retail margin rather than tax.
Reading the chart honestly
- Each point is a monthly mean of the published weeks, so a sharp move inside a month is smoothed out.
- The series is a national average across every kind of retailer, from supermarket forecourts to motorway service areas.
- The gap between the lines is the useful signal. It is what decides whether the fuel economy advantage of a diesel engine survives the price of the fuel.
- August 2026 is not shown as a monthly mean because not every week of that month is published in the series held here.
Common questions
- What happened to diesel in spring 2026?
- The monthly average went from 141.12p a litre in February 2026 to 189.99p in April, a rise of nearly 49p in two months, while unleaded rose about 25p over the same period. It has fallen back since, but the two fuels have not converged again.
- Are these weekly or monthly figures?
- Monthly. Each point is the unweighted mean of the weeks DESNZ published inside that month, which is four in most months and five where a fifth Monday falls inside it. The weekly series is the underlying data.
- How far back does the official series go?
- DESNZ publishes weekly road fuel prices back to 2003 as downloadable files. The two years shown here are the span worth charting for somebody deciding what to buy, rather than the whole archive.