Fuel prices are falling – diesel at its lowest level in months

That should please millions of drivers: Diesel is cheaper in Germany than it has been for months. At the weekend, the price of fuel fell to its lowest level since August, as the ADAC announced on Monday. If you factor out the effects of the fuel tax cut that came into force in the summer, it is actually the lowest diesel price since May.

Specifically, a liter of diesel on Sunday cost 1.986 euros on a national daily average. A week ago it was 9.5 cents more, two weeks ago even 13.2. Super petrol of the E10 variety also became cheaper on a weekly basis, albeit by far not as much at 4.7 cents. On Sunday it cost an average of 1.868 euros per liter.

“Prices are moving in the right direction at the moment. Apparently the competition is getting a little better again,” says ADAC fuel market expert Jürgen Albrecht. But there is still a lot of room for improvement, he emphasizes: "Prices are still too high - especially for diesel."

He attributes the fact that prices are falling to various factors. "In the case of petrol, the traditionally lower demand in the fourth quarter should also make itself felt - that's good for competition," says Albrecht. “In the case of diesel, additional demand from industry as a substitute for gas had recently driven up prices. There is some evidence that much of that demand has now been satisfied, causing prices to fall again.”

The fact that heating oil prices have recently fallen significantly, says the expert, fits in with this. On Monday, the Heizöl24 portal quoted the average price for heating oil for 3,000 liters as 1.327 euros per liter. Here, too, it is the lowest level since May. On November 6, the value was still 1.467 euros. Diesel and heating oil are very similar.

Albrecht said how the prices will continue depends on many factors such as temperatures and political developments. But he gives drivers some hope: “If nothing comes up, we could be at the beginning of a normalization thanks to the competition that is starting up again. But there is still a long way to go.”