The Carbon Tax Increase: What You Should Know

The Carbon Tax was introduced a number of years ago in order to reduce people’s reliance on fossil fuels for everyday things. The logic is if fossil fuels are more expensive people will find more ways of reducing their need for them.

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The tax before the 8th October 2019 was €20 per tonne of CO2 emitted. This has been raised to €26 for petrol & diesel and by May 2020 this will also apply to all other fuel sources – gas, kerosene, peat, coal, etc. The end goal is a Carbon Tax of €80 per tonne of CO2 emitted by 2030 with steady increases happening every year until this target is met, these increases have not been outlined as of the date of this blog post.

What do these charges mean for an average consumer?

For every 430 litres of petrol or 366 litres of diesel, you are currently using there will be an extra €6 cost. My own car has a 50-litre tank of petrol so for every 9 refills, I will be paying an extra €6 from today.

For your home use, there won’t be any increase until May 2020 but once that comes in 55m3 of Natural Gas, 400 litres of Kerosene or 630 litres of LPG will have an increased cost of €6. This will equal a €12 increase each year to your average consumers Natural Gas bill.

What do these charges mean for your company?

Since companies typically use far more energy than the average consumer the cost increase they see will be higher, each 55 m3 of Natural gas is going to cost €6 extra, this is roughly equal to 5,500 kWh for 2020, with these charges rising each year until they reach their maximum in 2030.

Is there any good news?

Every cloud has a silver lining and that is no different here. These extra costs should open everyone to the idea of reducing their reliance on fossil fuels where possible. By thinking about how and when you use energy there are savings to be made and once these costs are introduced those savings are only going to increase. The extra cost of fossil fuels will also mean the ROI for new, more energy-efficient equipment will be decreased.

For more information on these changes and what it means for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us HERE

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