The excise duty cut is 20 cents, but nowhere has the price of gasoline and diesel dropped by 20 cents . At least not if you look at the price table published daily by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (Mimit).
The effects of the measure began to be seen yesterday around lunchtime, so in the March 19 table, published at 8:30 in the morning, prices were still rising.
Sardinia is among the regions where prices have decreased the most, ranking third for both gasoline and diesel . The average price of self-service gasoline, according to this morning's update, is €1.710 per liter, down 17.1 cents from yesterday's €1.881. Diesel, on the other hand, has an average cost of €1.952 per liter, down 16.5 cents from yesterday's €2.117 .
The most virtuous region is Friuli Venezia Giulia, followed by Tuscany and, indeed, Sardinia.
The least virtuous is Campania, where the price of both petrol and diesel has dropped by just over 10 cents per litre .
Price trends therefore vary greatly from region to region, ranging from 10 cents less in Campania to almost 18 less in Friuli.
According to the National Consumers Union, at constant industrial prices, pump prices should have decreased by 24.4 cents per liter, including VAT: "But this hasn't happened in any Italian region. Furthermore, the varying costs between the various regions demonstrate that crude oil price trends have nothing to do with it."
Speculation, in short: "Despite the scarecrow raised yesterday, with the delivery to the Guardia di Finanza of the list of distributors that had not adjusted their prices, there are still the usual crooks who, instead of passing on the entire excise duty cut to prices at the pump, have decided to skim it , seizing the opportunity to enrich themselves a little further. Since the government wants to crack down on speculators, we'll see how many individuals will be prosecuted," declared UNC President Massimiliano Dona.
