“The Comparison of Petrol and Diesel Prices in Como and Chiasso in 2023”

Getting petrol across the border remains cheaper for those who live in the capital. In Chiasso yesterday it cost (if you pay in euros) 1.78 euros per liter with a difference, compared to the city of Como, between 16 and 10 cents, less per liter. In practice, on a full 40-litre tank, the savings range from 4 to 6.4 euros which, for those who live in the capital, are worth the trip to Switzerland. Towards the surrounding Municipalities, in the Fino Mornasco area, the average price is equal to 1.88 euros but it can also reach 1.83 euros per liter. Exactly like in Cantù, which has a difference of only 5 cents per liter (in the most convenient plants) which effectively makes the trip null.

Conversely, the opposite goes for diesel which remains more competitive in economic terms in Italy than in Switzerland. Compared to 1.98 euros per liter in Chiasso, the cost in the city of Como is between 1.78 and 1.84 euros per liter, with a difference therefore to the sure advantage of Italy. It is no coincidence, in fact, that if cross-border commuters have returned to making petrol in Switzerland, as have Ticino residents, diesel is different.

In addition to the “Italian” shopping on Saturdays, a tradition that has been going on for years without any decline (just look at the parking lots of the supermarkets closest to the border to confirm, the Ticino citizens who have diesel cars have got into the habit to stop at the Italian distributors also for a full tank of diesel.

For the moment, at least as regards the green, there are no signs of the restoration of the Discount Card, which has been suspended for some time now, which guaranteed lower prices to residents in the border area with the aim of discouraging commuting from full fuel. Its reactivation is not so simple: it is not enough for the differential between Italy and Switzerland to exceed 5 cents per litre, but this figure must derive from the average obtained from the monitoring of a series of distributors in the border area, which has already been disputed in the past by the managers themselves, but also by politics.