Calculations by the Cartel Office: Oil companies probably only pass on 60 percent of the refueling discount on petrol

Drivers have been suspecting for a long time that the fuel discount is not reaching them in full. Calculations from the Cartel Office now support this, especially for gasoline. Things look much better with diesel, however.

According to initial findings, the Federal Cartel Office also does not assume that the fuel discount will be passed on in full to customers. "According to the Federal Cartel Office's current calculations, the average pass-on rate for October is around 90 percent for diesel and around 60 percent for gasoline," explained the Bonn authority. However, the calculation is very complicated and needs to be further examined carefully.

“Fuel prices are currently influenced by various, sometimes opposing factors,” explained Cartel Office chief Andreas Mundt. This makes it difficult to correctly assess how the energy tax cut will be passed on. The Cartel Office also points out that other studies have come to significantly different figures.

The federal government reduced the energy tax on fuels by a total of almost 17 cents as of October 1st. In its study, the Munich Ifo Institute came to the conclusion that the tax cut was not fully received by consumers in the first few weeks. In detail, consumers received an average of 16 cents in refueling discounts for E5 petrol in the first three weeks, while only 14 cents each for E10 and diesel.

For October, the cartel office determined an average price for diesel of 2.261 euros per liter. Super E10 therefore cost an average of 2.115 euros per liter. Over the month, prices developed in different directions: a liter of diesel rose by 1.6 cents, a liter of petrol became 4.5 cents cheaper.

According to the ADAC, fuel prices have fallen significantly in the past few days. Diesel cost an average of 2,260 euros on Tuesday, 2.9 cents less than the previous week. Super E10 was even cheaper by 4.3 cents to 2.041 euros. “Diesel in particular remains at a very high price level, with a gap of almost 22 cents per liter compared to Super E10,” explained the automobile club.