The extension of the fuel discount, set at 30 cents per liter in September and October then 10 in November and December, was enacted on Tuesday by a decree published in the Official Journal, which also establishes financial compensation for small service stations. .
This exceptional public aid for the purchase of fuel is thus extended for motorists until December 31, as Parliament voted in July as part of a package of measures in favor of purchasing power.
A discount since April
On September 1, its amount including tax will increase to 30 cents per liter (25 cents excluding tax) for diesel and gasoline. The rebate, in place since April to help consumers cope with historic price increases, is currently 18 cents including tax.
On November 1, its amount will be reduced to 10 cents (8.33 cents excluding VAT), until December 31. Tuesday’s decree also establishes aid for operators of small service stations.
Aid for stations
Those who request it will be able to receive 3,000 euros if their station has sold less than 500 hectoliters per month on average over 2021. It will be 6,000 for those who sell between 500 and 1,000 hectoliters.
For these companies, it is a “financial compensation”, the rebate having generated for them “worrying financial difficulties”.
In fact, when the rebate was introduced in April, many of these stations still had a stock of fuel purchased at prices before the rebate, and which they had to sell at discounted prices, in order to remain competitive with the large stations, explains the National Automobile Federation (FNA), which represents craftsmen in the sector.
FNA worried
On Tuesday, the FNA congratulated itself on having “finally won its case”, while worrying about the future, since on September 1 the stations which still have fuel stored at 18 cents will have to make another advance. cash to store at 30 cents.
The federation also deplores that the State, “guarantor of healthy and fair competition”, has, through the voice of Minister Bruno Le Maire, granted “a spotlight” to the TotalEnergies network, which applies an additional discount.
For the FNA, “service stations that are not members of the Total network risk seeing their sales volume drop sharply over the next four months. This government advertising is certainly for the benefit of motorists, but will again weaken the other stations, in particular the independent ones essential to the territorial network, ”she apprehends.