Gradually, in a patchy fashion, the excise duty cuts moved from words to action yesterday, and at nearly all Sardinian gas stations, prices dropped by 20-25 cents per liter . And cars were once again lined up at the pumps. Better to seize the moment: the gravy train lasts only twenty days, and news from the Gulf, with attacks on oil and gas facilities (starting with the main one, South Pars, which Iran and Qatar use), suggests that fuel prices will start to rise again as early as today.
Yesterday morning, the decree approved Wednesday evening by the Council of Ministers remained a dead letter at petrol stations throughout Italy, including Sardinia: the average prices indicated by MIMIT (Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy) were €2.117 per liter for self-service diesel and €1.881 for gasoline.
There was no shortage of controversy, even at the local level, with Adiconsum Sardegna accusing the companies of having adjusted their price lists upwards before the excise duty cuts took effect. "The problem, as usual, is that legislators rush things," explained Tore Garau, Confcommercio Southern Sardinia representative for gas station operators, around 11:30 a.m.: "The companies need time to update the digital price lists and transmit them to individual service stations , which can only adjust their prices after receiving them. A day could have been granted for implementation."
And signs of adjustment were indeed visible at lunchtime: at the Esso on Viale Merello , diesel prices dropped from €1.999 to €1.799 (the last time a price dropped below €1.80 in at least ten days) and gasoline from €1.799 to €1.569 . Little by little, other distributors also adjusted their prices. By the end of the day, for a moment, it almost seemed as if the war, or at least the price hike, had never begun.
