As Australia's fuel price pushes past $2 a litre, any tax cut sounds like good news. But drivers have a lot of questions about the federal government's fuel excise cut before they next head to the petrol station.
Here's what we know about the changes so far.
What is the fuel excise?
Let's start with the basics — it's just the levy built into the price you pay at the bowser, thanks to the federal government.
But it does have a purpose, helping fund roads and infrastructure across the country.
On the ABC's 7.30, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said there would still be funds for roads.
"The cut in the fuel excise is not coming at the cost of investments in roads, we're still committing $12 billion by the year, to new road funding, which is very important, and which is where normal fuel excise revenues go," he said.
How much is the fuel excise?
Until midnight on budget night, it was 44.2 cents per litre.
But, from then, the government halved that excise to 22.1 cents per litre in a bid to help stop petrol prices from rising even higher.
But that cut is not forever — there's a six-month limit, so any relief is set to end in September this year.
That's when the Treasurer says the forecast price for a barrel of oil will come back to around $100.
When will fuel prices start to get cheaper?
The cut to the excise officially started at midnight on Tuesday, but even Mr Frydenberg flagged in his speech that it'd take two weeks before that would be passed on.
Australia's consumer watchdog says that lag could be even longer in regional locations.
So what will the fuel price be on Wednesday?
Sadly, it'll likely be similar to what it was on Tuesday.
And why?
A lot of this depends on retailers "using up" their stock of petrol that they bought at that higher excise level.
The head of the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), Gina Cass-Gottlieb, says the commission expects fuel retailers will pass the cut on "as soon as possible, as existing petrol stock levels are used up."
"We will contact petrol retailers to set out our clear expectations that the savings are passed on to consumers and advise them that we will be monitoring their margins," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
And the final price you pay at the pump is made up of more than just the international price, including:
- costs to wholesalers to import, refine, store and transport fuel
- costs to retailers to operate service stations
- wholesaler and retailer profits
- taxes and excise (that's what's coming down).
The Australian Institute of Petroleum says oil company profits over the past decade have been about 1.8 cents per litre, on average, and retailer profit about 1.35 cents per litre.
Are diesel and premium fuels included?
Good news if you're driving a truck: The excise cut includes diesel and all other petroleum-based fuel types.
Bad news if you have a plane though, aviation fuels have been excluded.
