Fuel prices are back on the agenda are they?<\/p>\n
They are indeed. Conflicts in Iran, Ukraine and Yemen have seen oil and natural gas prices on wholesale markets climbing again and that has prompted EU energy ministers to meet on Thursday to discuss energy security and the higher costs<\/a> faced by consumers as winter approaches.<\/p>\n And I suppose the ministers meeting today are not too upbeat?<\/p>\n They are definitely not upbeat. The EU is \u200centering the winter heating \u2060season with stocks at only 75 per cent of available storage compared with 83 per cent a year ago. \u201cWe are in a \u200cvery \u200cserious \u200bsituation now. It does not look like we have a security of supply issue but I would warn against neglecting \u2060that,\u201d EU energy commissioner Dan \u200bJorgensen said. He stressed that \u200baffordability was just as urgent an issue as supply and said that a plentiful supply of fuel means nothing to households and businesses if they can\u2019t afford to use it.<\/p>\n So what is the EU Commission doing to help?<\/p>\n This week it started talks with European refineries to see if there were \u2060ways to boost output, including \u2060through the possible \u200beasing of some technical specifications. EU countries are also considering a commission proposal to cut electricity bills through tax and grid-fee reforms, such as by taxing electricity at a lower rate than natural gas.<\/p>\n But prices are climbing?<\/p>\n European wholesale gas prices briefly touched \u20ac100\/MWh on Wednesday for the \u200cfirst time since December 2022 when Europe was reeling from the loss of most of \u200bits Russian pipeline gas supply. Prices are now trading at about triple pre-Iran war levels.<\/p>\n And what about electricity closer to home?<\/p>\n The news is not great on that front either. Wholesale electricity prices have almost doubled in the past year<\/a>, according to data from the Central Statistics Office this week. On a monthly basis, wholesale electricity prices rose almost 7 per cent in September, with energy fuels up almost 11 per cent compared with August. The cost of energy fuels has risen almost 47.6 per cent year on year compared with September 2025.<\/p>\n [\u00a0\u2018No silver bullet\u2019: Energy crunch could bite Europe this winterOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n So does that mean my electricity or gas bill is going to go up?<\/p>\n It is hard to say what the domestic providers will do in the weeks ahead. They all increased their prices by varying amounts as the summer came to an end but there is no guarantee those hikes will be the end of it. It does seem unlikely they will announce any new price increases in the winter months \u2013 that would never play well with their customers \u2013 but come the spring we could definitely see more hikes. <\/p>\n Are things any better when it comes to motor fuel?<\/p>\n No. According to the FuelWatch app, the average price of a litre of diesel on Thursday morning was \u20ac2.14 while a litre of petrol was said to cost an average of \u20ac1.99. If we look back at August, figures from the AA suggested that the average price of a litre of petrol was \u20ac1.84 and it put the average price of diesel at \u20ac1.92, while in September it priced petrol at \u20ac1.87 and diesel at \u20ac1.94.<\/p>\n So, I am paying about 20 cent more for a litre of diesel and 15 cent more for petrol than I was?<\/p>\n It is actually much worse than that if you widen the lens slightly. <\/p>\n In February, a litre of petrol and diesel were both priced at about \u20ac1.70. That means many motorists are now paying as much as 45 cent more for each litre of diesel they pump into their car. If a typical motorist covers about 17,000km a year and uses about 1,100 litres of fuel, the higher prices today \u2013 if maintained \u2013 will see motorists spending close to \u20ac500 more on fuel over the course of a year than they were in 2024. And it is also worth bearing in mind that today\u2019s prices do not take into account the temporary tax cuts that apply to both petrol and diesel. If the tax had not been cut, the price of a litre of diesel would be about \u20ac2.50, a price that would have been unimaginable five years ago.<\/p>\n