The price of a litre of petrol has again fallen slightly at the pumps in the last month but diesel prices have continued their upward trend according to the December survey of pump prices from the AA.
A litre of petrol now costs an average of 147.9 cent, down 1.6 cent since November. Diesel rose by 2.2 cent and now costs an average of €146.9.
These changes include the addition of extra Carbon Tax in the budget which added 1.4 cent to petrol and 1.6 cent to diesel respectively. The additional 2 per cent in VAT that comes into effect on 1st January will add 2.44 cent to petrol and 2.33 cent to diesel.
“The policy of ever increasing fuel taxes was pursued by the last Government and continued by this one,” says director of policy Conor Faughnan. “We have now had five separate tax increases on fuel since October of 2008. Between them they have added 21 cent to the price of a litre of petrol.”
