A full tank of petrol costs 8.9 euros more than it did at the end of December: the calculation comes from Codacons which underlines how it is possible to estimate a greater expense on an annual basis of around 214 euros per motorist. “Beyond the extreme cases recorded in the islands or on some motorway sections, where the price lists are even close to 2.5 euros per litre, Codacons states in a note, it is clear that something is not right on the pump prices front. The rise in petrol and diesel was widely expected as an effect of the increase in excise duties, but net of the higher taxation, the price component that is not affected by VAT and excise duties should have fallen due to the sharp drop in oil prices, which fell in these days well below 80 dollars a barrel. It is also not clear how two pumps of the same brand, but located in different areas, can sell the same fuel with price differences of even 20 euro cents”. “We are pleased that our complaint about fuels has led the Government to take immediate action to monitor the trend in price lists, but we believe that similar situations must be prevented through constant supervisory activity – says the chairman Carlo Rienzi – For this reason at the meeting with Minister Urso scheduled for this week, we will ask the Government to reform Mister Prices, a figure that has so far proved to be bankrupt, attributing tasks and functions of this body to consumer associations”.
“As a government, tomorrow there is a council of ministers and we will discuss whether, between war, expensive materials and expensive raw materials, it is the case to intervene and there is money to intervene”. This is what the transport minister said in Brescia Matteo Salvini ptalking about fuel price hikes. “I’m happy – he added – that there are blanket checks, because even in this case, as in the case of gas and electricity, someone is taking advantage of them, because you can’t pay 1.70 euros for the same product in a city and 2.30 euros in another. It is right to check and verify”.
“When it becomes difficult to give answers, then the Government takes refuge in an improbable witch hunt, looking for the culprit of the misdeeds on the price of fuel”. This is what Fegica, the trade association of fuel distribution plant managers, affirms. “Obviously, the easiest choice is to start from the last link in the chain: the operators who, with a margin of 3 cents per liter (and a price fixed by the companies) are the guardians of the public trust”, underlines the association, recalling that “managers are obliged to communicate weekly to the Mimit Observatory of the price charged to the consumer and to electronic invoices; to the fees transmitted electronically to the Revenue Agency and to transfer, every day, the sales made with direct connection to the Revenue Agency. All in a hyper-controlled context in which fuel purchases and sales through stamped and sealed dispensers are recorded on stamped registers on a daily basis”. For the government, however, “it seems easier to control a category of micro-enterprises than to investigate the real problems that determine these situations upstream. There were perhaps some deluded people who could have imagined how the return to the condition prior to the Draghi discount introduced in March 2022 , happened without any backlash? – asks Fegica – But, as we know, everyone is good at talking: the difficult thing is the facts. Those have a hard head. The government appears lost, unarmed and without any will to go back up the supply chain so as not to disturb the powers that be”.
THE TREND OF PRICES – Prices still rising at the petrol pump pending the incorporation of the slight downward adjustments on the fuel network following Wednesday’s drop in international product prices. According to calculations by Quotidiano Energia, the average price of petrol served rises to 1.965 euros, while that of diesel rises to 2.023 euros per litre. The national average price of petrol in self-service mode is 1.821 euros per liter (1.814 the figure for 5 January), with the various brands ranging between 1.816 and 1.835 euros per liter (no logo 1.819). The average price of self diesel is 1.879 euros per liter (against 1.875).
The average price of petrol served on the motorway rises to 2.171 euros: the elaboration comes from the Staffetta Quotidiana according to which on this network the self costs 1.912 euros per litre. For diesel on the motorway, 1.963 euros per liter are spent for self-service and 2.223 for serviced vehicles, while for LPG, 0.823 euros are spent per liter for self-service and 0.900 euros per liter for serviced vehicles. For petrol, excise duties weigh in at 0.728 euros per liter, while for diesel they weigh in at 0.617 euros.
GDF CONTROLS – From March last year, coinciding with the increase in the price of gas, electricity and fuel, at the end of 2022, the Guardia di Finanza carried out 5,187 inspections of roadside fuel destruction plants and commercial depots, alleging 2,809 violations of price discipline. Based on what emerges from the data, 717 violations concerned the failure to display or the discrepancy of the prices charged with respect to those indicated, while 2,092 are related to the failure to notify the ministry.
Source: Ansa
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