Refueling gasoline across the border in Germany is no longer as attractive as before this year. This has to do with a CO2 tax that has been introduced. From now on, diesel is often just as expensive as in the Netherlands.
Previously, you could make a difference of tens of cents per liter whether you were going to fill up with petrol in the Netherlands or Germany. Especially in the border regions, many Dutch people therefore always refueled in Germany. For diesel, the difference has always been slightly smaller. Now a CO2 tax has been introduced by the German government, which is added to the liter price of fuels. For petrol this is 7 cents per liter, for diesel 8 cents. The consequence; the difference between Dutch and German fuel prices is shrinking.
In many cases it is enough not to cross the border at all for diesel, we read AD.nl. Diesel is now almost the same price in both countries. For petrol, the advantage can still be about 10 to 15 cents per liter. Jan Pieter de Wilde, commercial director at Kuster Olie across the border in Babberich, is talking to it AD that few Dutch people are currently refueling at all because of the lockdown, but thinks that the difference in gasoline prices will still attract Dutch people: “The price difference is still large.”
So it pays off for people with a petrol car, but then you shouldn’t have to drive too far. After all, the distance for which detours to Germany pays off is shrinking due to the smaller price difference. In the Dutch border areas, petrol station operators hope to see more diesel drivers at the pump in the coming months, due to the virtually disappearance of the price advantage. Incidentally, in 2026 there will be a higher levy on top of fossil car fuels in Germany, and the price advantage for petrol may then also expire.