2022 has seen unprecedented fuel prices which have added pressure to supply chains already creaking at the seams from Brexit and driver shortages. The fuel duty cut announced in March was welcomed in theory, but any savings were quickly wiped out by rising oil costs fuelled largely by the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
The RAC has been particularly vocal regarding high prices and the Competition and Markets Authority has recently highlighted that there is ‘ evidence of feather and rocket pricing’ resulting in consumers missing out on potential savings. The RHA has campaigned about the need for an essential user rebate as seen in Europe but with prices falling and the government looking to cut costs where possible, this seems unlikely to happen in the near future.
So how has this affected our seasonal friend, St Nick? Last year Right Fuel Card calculated the huge costs that could be faced if Santa’s sleigh was run on petrol bought in the UK. We’ve worked with Santa again to analyse the potential fuel costs of the Big Night this year and demonstrate the huge increase the man in red would have faced if he didn’t have access to reindeer magic.
Over 6 years, Santa’s diesel cost would have increased a whopping 49% or 39%1 if he had been using petrol. On the other hand, the price of carrots has fallen 6%2. Working on a basis of 8kg per reindeer (we’re counting nine including Rudolf) the carrot bill cost for the big night would have been £4320 – which is significantly less than a £5bn+ fuel bill!
Of course, if magic wasn’t real, Right Fuel Card would have ensured Santa got the best deal on fuel and provided him an invoice to use on his VAT rebate. With an example saving of 5p per litre, North Pole Manufacturers Ltd could have saved over £150k plus their VAT rebate on top!
1. 2017-2021 Average fuel costs taken from December AA Fuel reports https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/driving-costs/fuel-prices
2. 2022 uses October data versus December data for all other years
Notes to editors
For further information, contact Jennie Green, jennie.green@rightfuelcard.co.uk
Right Fuel Card is an independent distributor of fuel cards with a mission: simplify the fuel management of businesses across the UK.
Right Fuel Card is proud to be part of Edenred, a leading digital platform for services and payments and the everyday companion for people at work, connecting over 50 million users and 2 million partner merchants in 46 countries via roughly 900,000 corporate clients.
 | Jen GreenJen has extensive experience across a range of regulated industries. Her research on the monthly market movements for oil and how they will impact prices at the pump has been featured in numerous publications, including the Transport Operator and Fuel Oil News. |
