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What you need to know

Road users help pay for New Zealand’s land transport system through petrol excise duty (PED) or road user charges (RUC). The rates of PED and RUC are specified in legislation and money raised goes into the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF), which helps fund the improvement, operation and maintenance of our land transport system.

RUC is paid mainly by owners of diesel vehicles and from 1 April 2024 by owners of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. RUC is purchased from New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi or approved agents in advance of kilometres travelled.

For more information on RUC see NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

The work to date

10
Jul 2023

End of reduced rates for fuel excise duty, road user charges, and public transport fares

The temporary transport support measures ended on 30 June 2023:

  • Petrol excise duty returned to its usual rate of 70.024 cents per litre
  • Road user charges returned to their previous rates. You can contact Waka Kotahi with questions about individual rates.
  • Half price public transport fares also ended, with some discounts continuing through the Community Connect scheme. You can find out more about Community Connect here: https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/public-transport/community-connect/
09
Feb 2023

Extending fuel excise duty and public transport fares reductions, and reintroducing reduced rates of road user charges

In response to continued high fuel prices placing pressure on household budgets, the Government has extended the temporary transport support measures:

More information and related documents
08
Dec 2022

Ending the reductions to petrol excise duty, road user charges and public transport fares

The Government has announced the end dates for the temporary transport measures. It has been announced:  

More information
07
Jul 2022

Further extension on temporary reductions to petrol excise duty, road user charges and public transport fares

06
May 2022

Petrol excise duty, road user charges and public transport fares reduced for two more months

05
Mar 2022

Taking action on fuel prices – temporarily reducing petrol excise duty and road user charges

Fuel prices increased substantially across the globe and in New Zealand following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and increased demand as the world recovers from COVID.

In response, the Government announced a three-month reduction to petrol excise duty and road user charges to help support families and businesses facing higher fuel costs.

More information and related documents
04
Jul 2020

2020/21 increases to petrol excise duty and road user charges took effect

On 1 July 2020, PED increased 3.5 cents per litre and RUC was increased by 5.3%.

More information and related documents
03
Jul 2019

2019/20 increases to PED and RUC took effect

On 1 July 2019, PED increased by 3.5 cents per litre and RUC increased by about 5.5%.

More information and related documents
02
Sep 2018–Oct 2018

2018/19 increases to PED and RUC took effect

PED increased by 3.5 cents per litre on 30 September 2018 and RUC increased by around 9.7% on 1 October 2018.

More information
01
Jun 2018

Increases to PED and RUC announced for next 3 years

On 28 June 2018, the Government announced increases in PED and RUC over 3 years. They came into effect on 30 September 2018, 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2020.

More information and related documents

Get in touch

info@transport.govt.nz