UK petrol price soars to record high ($7.31/gallon)

[Newsjock]

Source: The Guardian

The average price of petrol at the pumps has soared to a record high of 121.76p a litre, adding further pressure to household budgets.

Petrol is now 11.88p a litre more expensive than a year ago, the AA said, surpassing the previous record of 121.61p reached on 12 May this year. Diesel is 14.21p pricier than a year ago but still cheaper than its July 2008 high of 133.25p.

... In a further blow to consumers, the energy group npower also announced a price rise from 4 January. The move will hit some 6.5 million customers. Household gas and electricity bills will rise by 5.1%, adding about £54 to the average annual dual-fuel energy bill for customers.

... Householders face a raft of price increases in the new year. The rate of VAT goes up to 20% on 4 January and rail fares are to rise by up to 13%. Fashion retailers have warned of price increases of up to 8% as a result of rising cotton prices.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/dec/10/petrol-price-record-high

[ananda]

1. Ouch.

I will soon be relating to price increases as electricity rates go up here
pretty soon.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Why so High When Oil Prices Are Not That High

and the pound is doing better than it was for a while.

[GCP]

3. Possibly a supply problem

As they've had horrible snow and ice and don't have the equipment to deal with major snow removal, and possibly that most of it is taxes anyway.

[Hannah Bell]

4. taxes? vat up?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Brent crude oil is at its highest since Oct 08

above $90 per barrel. And, back then, the pound was still a little stronger against the dollar than now. And tax has gone up 9p per litre since then.

[SoCalDem]

6. and yet, they still have their government health care, their housing subsidies,

their guaranteed old age pensions, their EXCELLENT public transportation, and even though some college tuition is going up, they are (and will be) far LESS than what our kids have to pay..

and yes, they still have liberal vacation/.maternity leave policies intact.

and MANY (most?) only use cars (if they even have them) only occasionally.

all in all, I think high gasoline prices there are not as big an issue as higher prices here...where we have NONE of the other amenities to give us some breathing room..