UK has the third most expensive fuel prices in Europe

Analysis of current prices for diesel, petrol and electric cars shows that UK drivers are among the hardest-hit in Europe, and the US, when it comes to fuel prices.

While many drivers understand electric cars to be the cheapest way to get around, the data collated by Xcite Car Leasing reveals the UK price of electricity is 2nd highest across the surveyed countries, beaten only by Italy. 

Our diesel price is 4th highest, behind Switzerland, Finland and Norway, while the cost of UK petrol is 11th. Danish drivers pay the most for petrol, but those in the Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, France, Finland, Germany and Portugal all pay more at the pumps for petrol than UK drivers, too.

USA and Turkey come out equally as the cheapest countries for fuel, with Turkey boasting the lowest electricity prices and the USA being lowest for petrol and diesel. 

While UK drivers continue to suffer with unreasonably high diesel prices - sustained by greedy profit margins at supermarkets - the relative cost of electricity is shocking. 

That’s in part because the wholesale price of electricity here in the UK is set by a complicated mechanism relating to the cost of running gas-fired power stations. With the surge in renewable energy production there have been calls to de-link the price of electricity from gas, but smaller bills for consumers would mean lower tax revenues for the government.

Xcite says its cumulative data across all three fuel types puts the UK in third place for priciest fuel overall, behind the Italians and the Swiss. However, there’s better news when it comes to the provision of electric charge points, which the firm also surveyed. When it comes to chargers per square mile, the UK ranks sixth, behind Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Do you think we pay too much for fuel in the UK? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section...