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 all money raised goes into the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF), which helps fund the improvement, operation and maintenance of our land transport network. PED is around 70 cents per litre and the rates of RUC vary depending on the weight and the configuration of the vehicle.
From time to time, the Government increases the rates of PED and RUC to ensure there is enough revenue to operate, maintain and improve our land transport system. The Government’s most recent plan for our land transport system is the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2021.
In June 2018, the Government announced 3 annual increases of 3.5 cents per litre to PED with equivalent increases to RUC, on 1 October 2018, 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2020. To reduce the impact on road users, particularly those with lower incomes, the increases were spread over 3 years and kept as low as possible.
The work to date
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%.
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%.
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.
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.