Clive wrote:
In message , Nick Finnigan
writes


Is it more expensive to produce, relative to petrol?


A hard question to answer, but any differences are small relative to
the changes in duty.

I remember one of the fuel companies using the excuse that diesel and
home heating oil were the same fraction, leading to elevated prices in
the winter months.

In NZ diesel is still just over 50% of petrol price, 67 cents / litre
against $1.20 for 96 octane unleaded (= £0.25p and £0.40p respectively),
with the difference largely due to excise. Diesel users however have to
pay a road user charge which varies with tare of vehicle - about 5 cents
per kilometre for a 3 tonne Isuzu 4WD. Still works out a lot better
than petrol.

Martin, auckland