According to an investigation, the fuel discount that has been in effect since June 1 was essentially passed on to motorists. This is shown by a comparison with the fuel prices between France and Germany before and after the introduction of the tank discount, the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research announced on Friday. RWI researcher Manuel Frondel criticized the measure as not “reasonable” from a distribution and ecological point of view.
According to an evaluation by the RWI, diesel prices in Germany in May were on average a little more than 13 cents per liter higher than in France. After the introduction of the tank discount, prices in Germany fell by more than eight cents per liter on average in June.
The sum of both differences of around 21 cents per liter of diesel indicates that the tank discount of around 17 cents per liter of diesel has been passed on to consumers at least to a very large extent, if not entirely, RWI summed up.
A similar picture emerges for the prices of super petrol E10: in May they were around 3.5 cents per liter higher in Germany than in France, in June they were around 28 cents per liter lower. The sum of the differences of around 31.5 cents immediately before and after the introduction of the tank discount is close to the tax relief of around 35 cents per liter of premium petrol, according to the RWI.
In the case of super petrol E10, too, the discount was apparently largely passed on to consumers. A final and more precise judgment can only be made after the expiry of the benefit at the end of August using suitable econometric methods, the institute explained.
RWI researcher Frondel criticized that the tank discount would help the wealthy rather than the poor households. “They often don’t even own a car.” In addition, the tank discount is ecologically counterproductive: “It doesn’t encourage people to use less petrol and diesel. But that would be necessary for ecological reasons.”
