Status: 11/14/2022 5:56 p.m
The tank year 2022 is already the most expensive ever, even if prices are falling again. Diesel in particular became cheaper, but so did petrol. The reasons according to ADAC: less demand and more competition.
Diesel is cheaper than it has been for months. At the weekend, the price of fuel fell to its lowest level since August, according to the ADAC. If you factor out the effects of the summer tax cut on fuel, it is the lowest diesel price since May.
Specifically, a liter of diesel on Sunday cost 1.986 euros on a national daily average. A week ago it was 9.5 cents more, two weeks ago 13.2. Super petrol of the E10 variety also became cheaper on a weekly basis, albeit by far not as much at 4.7 cents. On Sunday it cost an average of 1.868 euros per liter.
According to the ADAC, prices are still excessive
“The prices are moving in the right direction at the moment. Apparently the competition is getting a little better again,” says ADAC fuel market expert Jürgen Albrecht. But there is still a lot of room for improvement, he emphasizes. “The prices are still inflated – especially with diesel.” He attributes the fact that prices are falling to various factors.
Falling demand pushes prices down
“In the case of petrol, the traditionally lower demand in the fourth quarter should also make itself felt – that’s good for competition,” says Albrecht. “In the case of diesel, additional demand from industry as a substitute for gas had recently driven up prices. There are some indications that a large part of this demand has been satisfied at the moment, so that prices are falling again.”
The fact that heating oil prices have recently fallen significantly, says the expert, fits in with this. On Monday, the Heizöl24 portal quoted the average price for heating oil for 3,000 liters as 1.327 euros per liter. Here, too, it is the lowest level since May. On November 6, the value was still 1.467 euros.
“Beginning of normalization”
Diesel and heating oil are very similar. Albrecht said how the prices will continue depends on many factors such as temperatures and political developments. But he gives drivers some hope: “If nothing comes up, we could be at the beginning of normalization thanks to the return of competition. But there’s still a long way to go.”