Head of Oil Association: Excise Cut Better Way of Lowering Fuel Prices
(ERR News) It would be sensible to lower excise duties in order to mitigate high fuel prices in Estonia instead of removing the biocomponent in fuels, as Latvia and Finland to some extent, have done, said Mart Raamat, head of the Estonian Oil Association.
Latvia is mulling temporarily lifting the requirement for gasoline and diesel to contain a certain amount of bioadditives in hopes of lowering fuel prices to rein in inflation. Finland has also decided to lower the required concentration of bioadditives to bring down the price.
Raamat said that in Estonia’s rather complicated system, abolishing the biofuel component requirement would rather result in a lot of confusion and a potential claim for damages from retailers. Such a decision would also harm Estonia’s green policy goals.
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Dropping the biocomponent requirement would create confusion as retailers are not expressly obligated to mix in biofuel at preset and can comply with the requirement by offering biomethane.
“It would be more difficult in Estonia compared to neighboring countries because we have a special system where retailers who sell biomethane do not have to mix in biofuels. They have a legitimate expectation for current policies to be retained and will ask who will compensate them in a situation where they will still have to offer biomethane,” Raamat said. READ MORE
Latvian says plans to suspend biofuels targets: Correct (Argus Media)
