The petrol companies surreptitiously raised the prices of petrol and diesel ahead of the tax cut on May 1, according to a report from the Norwegian Economic Institute, KI. The companies’ stealth increases mean that you as a motorist did not benefit fully from the tax cut and that the fuel companies made money instead.
Finance Minister Mikael Damberg (S) reacts strongly.
– When I receive this report, I get upset as finance minister. After all, this is taxpayers’ money that did not go back to the households, says Mikael Damberg.
The petrol companies will be called up to Minister of Business and Industry Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson (S) to discuss the data from KI.
Surreptitiously raised prices
On 1 May, the fuel tax was reduced by SEK 1:81 per litre. But some of the money ended up directly in the pockets of the fuel companies. Before the tax cut, the companies started surreptitiously raising prices, the analysis shows when the Economic Institute compared Sweden with Denmark.
The industry organization Drivkraft Sweden, for its part, believes that KI has not considered all the factors that can drive up prices.
In the player: More about how the petrol companies are accused of surreptitious price increases
The fuel tax, including VAT, was reduced by SEK 1:81 in May 2022.
However, the net effect was only SEK 1.3–1.4 per liter for petrol and around SEK 1.6 per liter for diesel, as the price had been unjustifiably increased before the tax cut. If the effect that then took place during the month of May, after the tax cut, is taken into account, the impact is even lower.
As of May 31, the calculations indicate that 62 percent of the tax cut was passed on to the price of gasoline. For diesel, the corresponding estimate is that the penetration amounts to 75 percent.
Source: Konkunkturinstitutet