Five months in and September has delivered a basket total of £20.95, up just 1p on August’s £20.94. On the surface that sounds like nothing happened. But underneath the headline figure, two items moved in opposite directions and one of them is worth talking about.
The petrol problem
Unleaded petrol has climbed to £1.62 per litre, up 6p on August and the highest price we’ve recorded in the Sensible Basket since we launched. For context, we started at £1.57 in May, dipped as low as £1.51 in July, and have now risen above where we began. Anyone filling up a 50 litre tank is paying around £3 more than they were at the summer low point.
Global oil prices have been edging upward through August and that’s feeding through to UK forecourts as it always does, quickly and without apology. If you’re looking at ways to cut your fuel bill, it’s worth reading our piece on whether a Costco membership can save you money on fuel and whether the maths stacks up for your car size.
Eggs, still not boring
The Happy Hen eggs have dropped 5p, from £2.90 in August to £2.85 in September. That offsets most of the petrol increase, which is why the basket total barely moved.
What is worth noting is that Tesco currently has a Clubcard price on the same eggs of £2.00, against a standard shelf price of £2.85. That’s a gap of 85p on a single product. I promised last month I’d write a fuller piece on the Clubcard pricing debate and this is exactly the kind of example I’ll be looking at. If supermarket loyalty schemes are your thing, the Supermarket Loyalty Cards hub is worth a look in the meantime. Watch this space.
Everything else
The Big Mac remains at £5.19. The Grande Latte at £4.65. Bread at £0.74, milk at £0.85, Coca-Cola at £1.55, Guinness at £1.41, cucumber at £0.99 and the Twix at £1.10. Eight items without a single penny of movement. Five months in and some of these haven’t shifted once.
The branded items at the top of the basket, the Big Mac and the latte, have been absolutely static since May. Which is either reassuring or suspicious depending on how cynical you’re feeling.
Five months in, where are we?
The basket has now ranged from a low of £19.49 in July to a high of £20.95 this month, a spread of £1.46 across five months. Petrol and eggs have done most of the moving. Everything else has barely shifted. If you want to see how it all started, the June update is where the first real movement showed up.
Whether September’s petrol price represents a new normal or a peak we’ll drop back from is the question for next month. Head over to The Sensible Basket to see the full chart and history.
October will tell us whether autumn is kind to our wallets. Based on recent form, I wouldn’t count on it.