Riviera amongst most expensive for diesel

All eyes are on the pump as holiday makers hit the road this summer

According to the association, fuel is often at its most expensive in rural areas where there is a low population density. With a smaller population comes fewer sales, so merchants are forced to raise their prices. Combined with a nationwide reduction in service stations, Corsica and the Alpes de haute Provence are victims of their population density. With less than 40 inhabitants per square kilometre, the two departments are both ranked in the top 10 most expensive for petrol and diesel.

With the Alpes Maritimes containing an average of 251 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is not a lack of trade that has resulted in the high prices of petrol and diesel, rather the study has shown that it is the high tax rates that are exacted on merchants that have made it the eighth most expensive department in France for diesel. Compared to Normandy, residents of the Alpes Maritimes are paying around 50 euros more per year for their fuel.

But the Var can take comfort from the knowledge that it is the second cheapest department for petrol nationally thanks to lower tax on fuel by local government.

Despite petrol prices in and around Nice being expensive, the area has experienced an eight per cent drop in diesel and a nine per cent drop in petrol prices between March and June 2012. This fall, which has affected all of France, has been attributed to more holiday makers being on the road and a fall in household fuel usage due to the warmer weather.

Ed Hetherington