Fuel excise is back to 53.7c. What that costs four utes.

Fuel excise on petrol and diesel returned to 53.7 cents a litre on 3 August 2026, up 17.1 cents from the 36.6 cent relief rate. A light vehicle on public roads cannot claim that back through fuel tax credits, so a ute doing 30,000 km a year absorbs roughly $513 more fuel tax.

What actually changed on 3 August 2026?

For four months, petrol and diesel were taxed at well under half the normal rate. That has ended.

From 1 April to 30 June 2026 the Australian Government cut fuel excise by 60.9%, to 20.6 cents a litre, and set the heavy vehicle road user charge to zero. Relief was extended from 1 July at a smaller 30.4% discount — 36.6 cents a litre, with the road user charge at 16.4 cents. Both ran out on 2 August.

From 3 August, excise on petrol and diesel is 53.7 cents a litre. That is the pre-conflict rate plus the regular August indexation, which the ATO applied at a CPI factor of 1.020.

All figures are cents per litre for liquid fuels, from the ATO’s published excise and fuel tax credit rates.

The end date was not arbitrary. The government aligned it with the August indexation date so businesses would have fewer separate fuel tax rates to deal with across the year.

What does the restoration cost a ute?

Work in litres, not dollars. Excise is charged per litre no matter what the fuel underneath it costs.

A ute doing 30,000 kilometres a year at 10 litres per 100 kilometres burns about 3,000 litres. The 17.1 cent restoration adds roughly $513 a year to that vehicle’s fuel tax. Measured against the 20.6 cent rate that applied through the June quarter, it is about $993.

Run four of them and it is roughly $2,050 a year against the August rate, or close to $4,000 against the autumn one. That is not a rounding error for a business with four vehicles and nobody employed to watch them.

Those are excise only and exclude GST. GST is charged on the excise-inclusive price, but a GST-registered business claims it back as an input tax credit, so the excise is the part that actually sticks.

Can a small fleet claim any of it back?

Mostly no, and this is the part that catches people out.

The fuel tax credit scheme refunds excise to businesses using fuel for an eligible purpose. From 3 August the rate for all other business uses is 53.7 cents a litre — the full excise. On the face of it, the whole increase comes back.

It does not, because of what counts as eligible. The ATO’s list of ineligible activities is blunt about it:

“fuels you use in light vehicles of 4.5 tonnes GVM or less, travelling on public roads (for example, a car, small van, taxi or ride-sourcing services)”

A ute, a Hiace, a Transit — anything at or under 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass — earns no fuel tax credit for the kilometres it does on public roads. Driving between jobs is the ordinary case for a small fleet, and it claims nothing.

There is a narrow exception. Fuel used in a light vehicle off public roads — a work site, a private road — is eligible, as is fuel powering auxiliary equipment. If a real share of your diesel goes into a site generator or a tipper’s PTO, it is worth raising with your accountant, because it is claimed per litre and the rate just went up. There is more on how the scheme works in what actually qualifies for fuel tax credits.

What about a vehicle over 4.5 tonnes?

Heavier vehicles do get a credit. The restoration barely moved it.

The road user charge works by cutting the credit rather than billing operators directly, and it is set independently of the excise rate. So while excise went from 36.6 to 53.7 cents, the on-road heavy vehicle credit went from 20.2 to only 21.3 cents — because the road user charge went from 16.4 to 32.4 cents at the same time.

The number that matters to a truck operator is the net: excise paid, less credit claimed.

• 1 April to 30 June — 20.6c paid, 20.6c claimed, net zero
• 1 July to 2 August — 36.6c paid, 20.2c claimed, net 16.4c
• From 3 August — 53.7c paid, 21.3c claimed, net 32.4c

In 2022 excise was cut without touching the road user charge, and heavy vehicle operators lost their partial credit altogether. This time the charge was cut alongside it, which the government said was to protect the quarterly credit smaller operators rely on for cashflow. The flipside is that restoring the charge put the full 32.4 cents straight back.

Is the pump price rise all excise?

No, and the ACCC’s numbers say so.

In the five largest cities, average retail petrol on 9 September was 209.9 cents a litre, up 14.6 cents from 2 August. Diesel was 253.7 cents, up 16.7 cents. Both moves sit close to the 17.1 cent restoration, but the ACCC attributes them to international refined fuel prices as well, which rose over the same weeks as the Middle East conflict escalated.

The longer view is harsher than the excise story on its own:

• Against 20 February, before the conflict escalated — petrol 39.0c higher, diesel 77.1c higher
• Against the 31 March peak — petrol 47.3c lower, diesel 68.7c lower

Diesel is where a small fleet feels it, and the gap between the two fuels is now wide enough to change which vehicle you buy next — something we ran the numbers on in petrol versus diesel running costs.

Where is there actually money to save?

Not on the excise. Same rate, every servo, every state.

On 9 September the ACCC recorded the cheapest and dearest retail sites in each capital. The gap inside a single city, on a single morning, is bigger than the increase everyone spent August complaining about.

Regular unleaded at 11am on 9 September 2026, from the ACCC’s weekly monitoring report.

Perth makes the point twice over. Average petrol there was 200.6 cents on Tuesday 8 September and 216.4 cents on Wednesday 9 September — 15.8 cents in a day, as the weekly price cycle turned. Even on the expensive morning, 25 sites were still selling under 197 cents.

The ACCC’s own advice is to shop around using fuel price apps and websites before filling up. That is free to act on, and on those numbers it is worth more per litre than the tax change was.

Axlerun’s fuel and EV locator does that inside the app on the free Drive plan, using live government price feeds in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. On Cruise it runs on CarPlay and Android Auto, so a driver can check without picking up a phone. If a state government app suits you better, use that instead — the point is that somebody looks before the tank goes in.

What to do this week

• Re-cost your jobs at 53.7 cents, not the autumn rate. A quote priced in May was built on a fuel tax less than half of today’s.
• Work out real litres per vehicle per year. Excise is per litre, so litres — not kilometres — is the number that tells you what a rate change costs.
• If any fuel goes off public roads or into auxiliary equipment, raise fuel tax credits with your accountant before the next BAS.
• Put one habit in place around where drivers fill. The spread between servos is the only part of the pump price a four-ute business can move.