After three consecutive months of falls the average price of petrol bottomed out at 148.35p towards the end of January and has now started to slowly rise again, data from RAC Fuel Watch revealed on Friday, February 3. Having at one point been as much as 3.5p lower than at the start of the month, unleaded closed January at 148.89p, 3p lower than it began (151.85p). The last time drivers filled up at this price was in mid-February 2022 before Russia invaded Ukraine. Filling up at one of the big four supermarkets was around 3p a litre cheaper for both fuels, with the average price of petrol at their sites finishing January at 145.71p (down 2.25p) and diesel at 167.49p (down 2.79p). Asda had the lowest prices with a litre of unleaded costing 144.61p (down to 2.5p) and diesel 166.09p (down 3.6p). RAC fuel spokesman, Simon Williams, said: “Although January saw fuel prices fall for the third month in a row, there is now more cause for concern than celebration as petrol has already begun to creep back up very slightly.” “Monthly reductions of 3p for petrol and 4p for diesel were welcome but sadly the first month of the year saw the wholesale price of petrol rise by 2p and diesel by 3p. Despite this, while unleaded has been overpriced for months due to the biggest retailers refusing to lower their prices in line with the lower wholesale price, diesel is still too expensive even after factoring in the slight wholesale uptick.”