With fuel prices rising, the debate over relief for motorists is once again in full swing. Demands range from a new fuel discount and a cut in the electricity tax to an excess profits tax. Federal Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) has spoken out in favour of direct payments for low-income earners. The mineral oil industry expects prices to return to normal only next year.
On Monday, the price of Super E10 reached another all-time high. The litre cost an average of €2.286 over the course of the day, the ADAC said on Tuesday. That was 1.3 cents more than the previous day. The price of diesel rose by 0.8 cents to €2.412 per litre, putting it just 3.4 cents below the record set in April. Heating oil prices also continued to rise.
One reason for the rising prices is the high cost of crude oil, as well as damaged refineries in war zones. The price of oil continued to rise amid growing tensions in the Gulf region, although the increase was no longer as sharp as in previous days. A barrel of North Sea Brent crude cost $107.55 on Tuesday morning, while a barrel (159 litres) of US crude oil, WTI, cost $103.24.
The decisive factor for price developments is "the further course of events, above all in the Middle East," said Alexander von Gersdorff, a spokesperson for the Fuels and Energy Association, in comments to the Rheinische Post. "If a peace agreement were reached, fuel prices would gradually calm down as well." Even then, however, it would take until "well into 2027" for the market to fully return to normal. This is because "a lot of refinery capacity has been lost."
CDU consumer protection politician Sebastian Steineke called in the Handelsblatt for another temporary reduction in the energy tax to the European minimum level. During the fuel discount in May and June, the energy tax had been reduced by 17 cents per litre, including VAT. Steineke also proposed reviewing the CO2 price. It is levied on climate-damaging carbon dioxide and makes fossil fuels more expensive.
SPD Secretary-General Tim Klüssendorf reaffirmed his party's call for a fuel price cap and an excess profits tax to allow the state to collect the "excessively high profits of oil companies." SPD transport policy expert Isabel Caldemartori also advocated both measures. Germany could not decouple itself from global market prices, she told Bayerischer Rundfunk, but fluctuations in fuel prices were being "passed on particularly severely and particularly quickly" in Germany.
RWI Leibniz Institute energy expert Manuel Frondel, however, warned against introducing a fuel price cap. "Politicians should not try to limit price increases at the petrol pump with a price cap. That is only seemingly a form of help," he told the Rheinische Post. He pointed to Hungary in 2022 as an example: "There, the price cap led to fuel shortages at petrol stations, long queues, limits on the amount of fuel people could buy and, ultimately, many petrol stations went bankrupt. In the end, there were fewer petrol stations and therefore less competition."
The Greens' deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Andreas Audretsch, proposed reducing the electricity tax to the European minimum level. This would provide one billion euros in relief, "and that comes directly into people's wallets," he told broadcasters RTL and ntv.
Minister Reiche rejected a cut in the electricity tax. "That does not help the person who is standing at the petrol station," she said on Monday in an interview with RTL and ntv. She also categorically rejected a fuel price subsidy such as the fuel discount. "Together, we decided in the coalition that there is currently no financial room for this." Direct payments to low-income earners, on the other hand, would be "a possibility to provide relief quickly."
Left Party leader Luigi Pantisano told AFP: "Nothing prevents the federal government from introducing climate money immediately." An excess profits tax or a cap on profit margins could also "be launched this week." The climate money, which was announced at the time by the former traffic-light coalition government, is a lump-sum payment from the state to all citizens, funded from revenues generated by the CO2 levy.
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