The Consumer Prices Index rose to 3.1% in the year to August 2026, up from 2.9% in July, as motor fuel and domestic energy prices climbed faster than the rest of the household basket, official data show.
The Office for National Statistics said transport — particularly motor fuels — made the largest upward contribution to the change in the annual inflation rate between July and August 2026, true of both the CPI and the more comprehensive CPIH measure.1 Average petrol prices rose 9.1 pence a litre over the month to 161.3p, the highest since November 2022; diesel rose 14.2p to 181.8p.1 That pushed annual motor fuel inflation to 23.0%, up sharply from 15.5% in July.1
Away from the pump, prices for electricity, gas and other fuels rose 0.9% between July and August, lifting their annual rate to 6.0%; the ONS pointed to increases in domestic heating oil and fixed-rate gas and electricity tariffs.1 This category's contribution to the CPIH annual rate rose to 0.15 percentage points in August — its largest since September 2025 — a smaller effect than motor fuels, but moving the same way.1 Housing costs overall remained the single largest contributor to the CPIH rate, mainly on owner-occupiers' housing costs rather than energy.1
The ONS reports motor fuels within the transport division and domestic fuels within housing separately; this release does not publish one combined "energy" contribution figure for the month, so the two effects described here cannot be added into a single precise percentage-point total from this bulletin alone.1 Whether August's fuel-price rise continues, holds, or reverses depends on oil markets over the autumn, which this release does not forecast.