A short study from the Chair of Energy System Economics at RWTH Aachen-presented by the researchers on Saturday-shows that a state-sponsored fuel discount would ease the financial burden of high‑income households far more than that of low‑income ones. Households in the top income decile would save roughly €20 per month on average, while those in the bottom decile would benefit by only about €6.
The analysis also finds that implementing such a discount would cost the government around €480 million each month. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, would decline by merely about 0.007 percentage points. Moreover, the fuel discount would likely reverse the earlier decline in private transport fuel consumption that had been driven by high prices. The researchers conclude that a fuel discount weakens the climate‑policy price signal and reaches only a limited number of needy households.