April has seen the highest petrol and diesel prices in Ireland yet so far in 2024, according to the newest monthly survey from AA Ireland.
On Friday the automotive services company released its monthly Fuel Price Survey for the month of April, which indicated what they described as a “surge” in petrol and diesel prices over the last few weeks.
“These are the highest prices reported in 2024, with almost a 13c increase in petrol and 9c increase in diesel since January 2024,” the group said in a statement.
According to the survey’s findings, petrol prices have risen to €1.81 per litre, while diesel prices have risen to €1.78 per litre, as crude oil rises to almost $90 per barrel.
Meanwhile, electric vehicle fuelling costs have remained “relatively steady”.
Jennifer Kilduff, the organisation’s Head of Marketing and PR, described the development as “unfortunate”, but “expected”.
“Unfortunately, and as expected, the decrease we saw in March, underpinned by the border counties reducing their prices was short-lived,” she said.
“The first re-instatement of excise duty which came into effect on April 1st has now been reflected in pump prices reported across most of the country in April.”
Notably, excise is a duty that the government adds to the sale of mineral oils, cigarettes and alcohol.
“It is a fixed amount which is charged per litre and does not change as the price fluctuates – retailers have no choice but to add this on at the pump as it is a legal requirement,” the group explained.
Kilduff said that AA Ireland expects the price to increase later in the year again with a further increase in excise duty rates and carbon tax in the coming months.
“The government will fully restore the excise duty rates on the 1st of August, with a final increase of 4c on petrol and 3c on diesel,” she said.
“A carbon tax is also expected in October, so we expect prices at the pump to increase further later in the year as a result”.
Gript recently reported that €6.6 billion has been paid in total in carbon taxes since the tax was first introduced in 2010, with a significant portion of this coming from the tax on petrol and auto diesel.
Over €6.6 billion has been paid in carbon taxes since the tax was first introduced in 2010, with a significant chunk of this figure coming from the tax on petrol and auto diesel.https://t.co/bMIJnBmckt
— gript (@griptmedia) April 16, 2024
By law, the carbon tax must increase annually, as stipulated by the Finance Act 2020, which mandates a rise of €7.50 per tonne of CO2 each year until 2029, and €6.50 in 2030, when it will ultimately reach a rate of €100 per tonne of CO2.
The Parliamentary Budget Office states that the revenue generated from carbon tax is “used to finance green initiatives and other climate related policies such as home retrofits”.
Introduced in 2010 by a coalition government of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, the tax has been consistently upheld and supported by subsequent governments.