Pump discounts: how much did motorists save last year?

Purchasing power support is always good to take. According to an INSEE study published this Thursday, the fuel discounts granted by the Government in 2022 have made it possible to reduce the average bill for motorists between 51 and 81 euros.

As a reminder, in the spring the government introduced a discount of 15 to 18 cents including taxes per liter of fuel, increased to 30 cents in September-October, to help households cope with the explosion in fuel prices, driven by the post-Covid. recovery and then by the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

The richest 25%, who consume more fuel on average, benefited more from this measure in absolute value (between 64 and 115 euros, compared to between 29 and 48 euros for the poorest 25), but this reduction represents a smaller part of your income, analyzes INSEE

The statisticians based this study on the bank details of 10,777 motorist customers of Crédit Mutuel, anonymized and analyzed between September 2021 and January 2023.

Discounts increased fuel consumption

When prices increase 1%, motorists delay fuel purchases and volumes decrease in the short term, between 0.21% and 0.40%, according to the study. These adjustments are three times stronger among “small pilots” (who spend less than 17 euros a month on fuel), who are more likely to change their habits or postpone their purchases.

Rural, peri-urban or “high speed” households (more than 120 euros per month of fuel), with their higher average consumption linked in particular to longer trips between home and work, further reduce their volumes of fuel consumption after a price increase. Thus they benefited more from the bonuses granted by the government.

These reduced prices by 10.8% on average, compared to the evolution of market prices. Compared to a situation where prices would have remained at their high level in early 2022, these discounts have increased fuel consumption by an estimated 16 to 31 litres.

This increase represents between 2.2% and 4.2% of the average annual consumption of a motorist household (740 litres). According to this study, urban motorist households spent an average of €981 on fuel in 2022, compared to €1,480 for motorist households living in peri-urban areas and €1,855 for those living in rural areas.