Record Fuel Prices

clv101

clv101

clv101

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Bristol
According to the AA Fuel Price Report - July 2006 we now have new record average fuel prices across the country.

Unleaded prices have risen by 1.6p per litre (ppl) to 97.5p. Diesel prices have also risen, by 1.0ppl, to 99.1p. The price difference between Unleaded and Diesel has fallen to 1.6ppl.
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Record UK Fuel Prices

Interesting to see the price difference between petrol and diesel come down so much.
 
clv101 said:
According to the AA Fuel Price Report - July 2006 we now have new record average fuel prices across the country.

Record UK Fuel Prices

Interesting to see the price difference between petrol and diesel come down so much.
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Still doesn;t make the alternative appealing, I had to get a train to Romsey yesterday from bournemouth, it took just under 2 hours with transfer to go what is a 20 mile 30 min journey by car.

The cost of time ofset against the cost of petrol still makes dricing the most economical method.
 
Why are you shocked? That is normal price for optimax in this region and normal unleaded is only two pence a litre cheaper. :o
 
I wouldn't bother posting this information anymore clv no one seems to care on how this will affect the UK over the years. Also dont forget that the tax on fuel is going up in a few months so that will take us well over £1.00
 
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teaboy5 said:
I wouldn't bother posting this information anymore clv no one seems to care on how this will affect the UK over the years. Also dont forget that the tax on fuel is going up in a few months so that will take us well over £1.00
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It's amazing what political instability can do short term to prices...

Once it's known what's going on, prices will stabilise again, just as they always have.

That's why, in general, people don't seem to care, especially when some posters constantly report every little thing
 
teaboy5 said:
Also dont forget that the tax on fuel is going up in a few months so that will take us well over £1.00
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Not any more... see my link above. Sadly the government response has been to postpone the inflation based increase in duty (again) - effectively giving us a tax cut which is exactly the wrong way to deal with high prices in my opinion.

People may not want to think about peak oil... yet, but people certainly do care about the day to day price of fuel.
 
Dolph said:
It's amazing what political instability can do short term to prices...
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We're not really talking about a short term thing here though are we? The upwards trend has been pretty constant for some 2.5 years now with no evidence to suggest it coming down again.

nymex_prices.jpg


The intersting thing is duty has been frozen (ie tax cuts) since Oct 2003 so the UK motorest has been sheilded from the worst effects of this rise.
 
Shell Unleaded 97.9p/l - was 96.9p/l earlier in the week...not sure what Optimax is now, but it was 102.9 earlier in the week.

Shell Diesel Extra is 99.9p/l now.
 
clv101 said:
We're not really talking about a short term thing here though are we? The upwards trend has been pretty constant for some 2.5 years now with no evidence to suggest it coming down again.
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Your graph itself suggests otherwise. While there is an upward trend, there are also lots of wild fluctuations in prices showing on your graph at points normally where it coincides with problems in the ME or other similar issues.

The intersting thing is duty has been frozen (ie tax cuts) since Oct 2003 so the UK motorest has been sheilded from the worst effects of this rise.
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The stupidly high tax shields the consumer (approx 400% of the real fuel value), not the lack on increases ;)

And as you should be aware, fuel demand is pretty much price inelastic so increasing taxation doesn't decrease usage, it simply allows the government to steal more money from the motorist to waste while falsely claiming to be green. Hence there's no benefit in consumption terms to going ahead with the price increases but lots of political fallout and an inflationary effect on the economy....
 
Dolph said:
Your graph itself suggests otherwise. While there is an upward trend, there are also lots of wild fluctuations in prices showing on your graph at points normally where it coincides with problems in the ME or other similar issues.
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Of course there are variations due to all sorts of things. In fact the extreme volatility of response to external events we're seeing these days is also interesting in itself and an indication that the underlying system is now much tighter than it has been in the past. In any case the trend is clear, with the spot price just bouncing up the virtually straight 200 day average line:

oil_prices_22JUL06.png

http://stockcharts.com/

Dolph said:
The stupidly high tax shields the consumer (approx 400% of the real fuel value), not the lack on increases ;)

And as you should be aware, fuel demand is pretty much price inelastic so increasing taxation doesn't decrease usage, it simply allows the government to steal more money from the motorist to waste while falsely claiming to be green. Hence there's no benefit in consumption terms to going ahead with the price increases but lots of political fallout and an inflationary effect on the economy....
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For sure the tax shields us tremendously from price rises and I agree with your points on inelasticity. My problem is with the government's policy of reducing duty on fuel. It is nonsensical to reduce this duty as that will only worsen our dependence on oil by disincentivising the innovation of oil alternatives and oil conservation efforts.
 
clv101 said:
For sure the tax shields us tremendously from price rises and I agree with your points on inelasticity. My problem is with the government's policy of reducing duty on fuel. It is nonsensical to reduce this duty as that will only worsen our dependence on oil by disincentivising the innovation of oil alternatives and oil conservation efforts.
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They have not reduced duty, they simply have not increased it. Fuel duty is not (and never has been) calculated on a percentage basis, but as an absolute figure of X pence per litre.

Hence if they choose not to increase it, that's what they do. The duty has not been reduced in any way, shape or form. At best you could say they have reduced the percentage of the cost that is taxation, but that's not the same thing as a duty reduction.
 
Dolph said:
They have not reduced duty, they simply have not increased it. Fuel duty is not (and never has been) calculated on a percentage basis, but as an absolute figure of X pence per litre.

Hence if they choose not to increase it, that's what they do. The duty has not been reduced in any way, shape or form. At best you could say they have reduced the percentage of the cost that is taxation, but that's not the same thing as a duty reduction.
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It's nothing to do with percentages, see my article "UK Petrol Prices" above, "simply not increasing" duty as the value of the currency is reducing (above zero inflation) reduces the duty in real terms. Real terms being the only thing that actually matters I'm sure you'll agree.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't link to it above, it's here: UK Petrol Prices
 
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teaboy5 said:
I wouldn't bother posting this information anymore clv no one seems to care on how this will affect the UK over the years.
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I won't be losing any sleep by worrying about what might happen in the future, it's out of my hands.
 
clv101 said:
It's nothing to do with percentages, see my article "UK Petrol Prices" above, "simply not increasing" duty as the value of the currency is reducing (above zero inflation) reduces the duty in real terms. Real terms being the only thing that actually matters I'm sure you'll agree.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't link to it above, it's here: UK Petrol Prices
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You missed my point entirely about how duty is calculated. It's simply false to say that not increasing duty = reducing duty, because it's simply not true.

If you want to talk about relative values of the duty or relative buying power, then say so, but don't claim things like "The government policy of reducing duty" when there is no such thing.
 
Dolph said:
You missed my point entirely about how duty is calculated. It's simply false to say that not increasing duty = reducing duty, because it's simply not true.

If you want to talk about relative values of the duty or relative buying power, then say so, but don't claim things like "The government policy of reducing duty" when there is no such thing.
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Okay - I think we understand one another. I believe that the actual number of pennies of duty is irrelevant and it's the value that is important. As inflation devalues the penny over time that 47.1 pence is worth less every year. If you think that the absolute number of pennies is more important I can't agree with you – you're a smart guy, I doubt you actually think that anyway.

I stand by my comment that holding duty stationary in an inflationary economy is a policy of reducing duty. If your employer decided to fix your salary for several years would you be happy - of course not, it would be equivalent to a pay cut, same thing.
 
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