A fuel‑discount scheme would ease the costs of gas for high‑income households far more than for those on low incomes.
The finding comes from a brief study conducted by the Chair of Energy Systems Economics at RWTH Aachen, which the researchers presented on Saturday.
According to the analysis, families in the highest income decile would save roughly €20 per month, while those in the lowest decile would receive only about €6 in relief.
The study also estimates that the programme would cost the government around €480 million every month.
In terms of income inequality, the Gini coefficient would drop by a mere 0.007 percentage points – barely a noticeable improvement.
Moreover, the researchers warn that a discount would likely cause private‑vehicle fuel consumption to rebound, since high prices had previously kept usage down.
Thus, a station‑pump subsidy would weaken the climate‑policy price signal and reach low‑income households only marginally.
