Good news for motorists. After several weeks of relative stability, fuel prices are again on a downward trend. According to the weekly statement published each Monday by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the liter of diesel was displayed last week at 1.81 euro when that of SP95-E10 flowed at 1.87 euro. That is respectively 2.8 cents and 0.9 cents less than the previous week. Diesel is thus at its lowest for two months and the end of the government rebate.
As various experts had told us, the embargo on Russian refined petroleum products, in force since February 5, has therefore not caused diesel to soar. It must be said that even if Russian diesel still represented a quarter of our imports of this fuel in January, the deadline had been largely anticipated by France and Europe, which had been preparing for months to diversify their sources of supply.
The cap by Total only has an effect on motorways
This improvement on the fuel price front comes at a time when, under pressure from President Emmanuel Macron, the CEO of Total Patrick Pouyanné announced last week the capping of diesel and SP95 at 1.99 euros per liter in the oil tanker stations until the end of 2023. A new gesture on the part of the French giant which had already granted rebates of 20 then 10 cents per liter from September to December 2022.
This cap came into effect this Saturday, February 25, but only on motorways. A boon, especially for French people returning from vacation this weekend, since nearly half of the stations on the motorway network (48.4%), all brands combined, posted a price per liter of SP95-E10 above 2 euros . And, according to the analysis of the tariff data of the stations having recently informed their prices, a third (34.7%) delivered diesel at more than two euros per litre.
But, on the rest of the network, the cap decided by Total, which is due to come into force on Wednesday, will have no significant effect for motorists in the immediate future. Indeed, given in particular the decline in fuel prices, only 2.3% of stations for SP95 and 0.2% of stations for diesel currently display prices above 2 euros, according to the decryption of the data that we have carried out.
Only one month left to benefit from the fuel allowance
The most modest French (with a reference tax income of less than 14,700 euros per unit) who use their car to get to work can benefit from a fuel allowance of 100 euros set up by the government. The system, which was to end on Tuesday, was extended in mid-February, but there is only one month left to request it on the impots.gouv.fr site.
According to figures released by Bercy last week, more than 5.6 million people have requested this aid out of a potential audience of 7 to 8 million people.