1. What has been decided, and what has not
On Friday 25 September 2026 the Bundestag passed the temporary energy tax cut by 434 votes to 128 with no abstentions; the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition voted in favour, the opposition against (bundestag.de, printed paper 21/6561). The Bundesrat approved the law the same day at its 1068th plenary session (bundesrat.de). The tax rates on petrol and diesel fall by 14.04 cents a litre each; VAT is charged on the net price, so the arithmetic comes to 16.7 cents, "up to 17 cents per litre" in the Bundesrat's wording. The rebate runs from 1 October to 31 December 2026, 92 days. The bill puts the revenue loss at 2.485 billion euros of energy tax plus 293 million euros of VAT (bundestag.de); Berlin and the states share the burden half and half (Netz-Trends, 19 September 2026). It followed the federal-state agreement of 19 September and cabinet approval by written procedure (ZDFheute).
"Passed" now means adopted by both chambers. What remains is signature by the Federal President and publication in the Federal Law Gazette; the articles on the tax cut take effect on 1 October 2026 (bundesrat.de). Until 30 September the old rate applies. The law contains no obligation to pass the cut on in full; how much reaches drivers is up to the oil companies and stations (Bundesrat).
Heating oil is excluded: the law cuts the energy tax on petrol and diesel only, while light heating oil stays at €61.35 per 1,000 litres, about 6.1 cents a litre (Energy Tax Act, section 2). Today's heating oil price for Germany is on our page Germany heating oil price forecast.
2. How much reaches the pump
The spring rebate is the best guide. Between 1 May and 30 June 2026 the energy tax was cut by 14.04 cents (about 17 cents gross, 1.6 billion euros), and the Bundeskartellamt's market transparency unit reported on 10 July 2026 that 13.8 of 16.7 cents reached diesel buyers, 82.6 per cent, and 13.0 cents or 77.8 per cent reached Super E5 buyers (Netz-Trends). Station margins rose by about 3.3 cents a litre on diesel and 1.9 cents on E5 over the same weeks. ZDFheute rounds the outcome to "about 80 per cent".
Applied to October, that pattern would leave drivers with 13 to 14 of the 17 cents. The ADAC motoring club is demanding full pass-through and a seat at the table when the price cap is designed (ADAC, September 2026). Whether the industry behaves differently this time will be visible on price boards in the first days of October, not in the legal text.
| Rebate | Period | Energy tax | Gross | Passed through (diesel) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | 1 May–30 June 2026 | −14.04 ct | ≈ 17 ct | 13.8 of 16.7 ct (82.6 %), Bundeskartellamt 10 July 2026 |
| Autumn 2026 | 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026 | −14.04 ct | ≈ 17 ct | open, measurable from 1 October |
Our glossary entry on the pass-through effect explains why tax cuts and crude moves rarely arrive one-to-one at the pump.
3. What it means for one tank and one quarter
At the full 17 cents, a 50-litre fill saves €8.50; at the spring's 13.8 cents it saves €6.90. A driver using 375 litres a quarter, 1,500 litres a year, saves between €51.75 and €63.75 over the three months. The reference point is the record of 17 September 2026: Super E10 at €2.308 and diesel at €2.471 per litre (ADAC). Diesel at €2.47 would fall to €2.30 with full pass-through, or €2.33 on the spring pattern. Meaningful, but not large: diesel rose 10.1 cents in the single week to 15 September (ADAC).
Three practical points. Fill only what you need on 30 September; the law has passed. Compare stations in early October, because pass-through was uneven in spring. And do not count on the rebate outlasting the crude market: at a euro-dollar rate of 1.14 (HeizOel24.at, 22 September 2026) 17 cents a litre is worth roughly 30 dollars a barrel, and Brent gained more than that between 1 July and 18 September 2026, from $71.57 to $104.33 (Wikipedia, Fortune).
See what the rebate does to your annual fuel budget in a minute: mileage, consumption, fuel type.
Calculate my fuel costs4. The 2027 price cap: what is known
The government wants a fuel price cap in place by 1 January 2027 at the latest, following Luxembourg and Belgium (ZDFheute, 19 September 2026). In both countries the state sets maximum pump prices from Rotterdam product quotations that retailers may not exceed. The economy ministry has given no fixed timetable and stresses two conditions: the cap must be temporary, and security of supply must be guaranteed. Nothing else is decided, neither the level nor the mechanism.
Economists criticise both the rebate and the cap as poorly targeted, because they help heavy drivers with large cars more than households without a car (ZDFheute). They are price instruments, not social policy. Households heating with oil get nothing from either; our German heating oil forecast covers the winter outlook for them.