Starting in May, the excise duty on electricity will increase by 45 percent. This means that if currently the excise tax on one megawatt-hour of electrical energy is one euro, it will subsequently rise to €1.45 per megawatt-hour. The impact of the excise tax on household consumers is small, as it constitutes only a minor portion of the electricity bill, stated Santa Tohver, head of the Estonian market for Enefit.

"For example, if a customer consumes 300 kilowatt-hours per month, they currently pay 30 cents in electricity excise tax, and going forward they will pay 44 cents, a difference of 14 cents," said Tohver.

According to her, this will also have a minor effect on energy-intensive production.

"Of course, we're no longer talking about cents here; these are euros, but still, the total electricity excise duty constitutes a very small part of the overall bill," Tohver added.

The increase in excise tax will not affect gasoline and special-purpose diesel fuels, but the duty on regular diesel fuel will rise by nearly 7 percent. Half of Estonia's passenger cars run on diesel fuel.

"The impact, including value-added tax, is 3.3 cents per liter for the consumer, which represents an increase. This is a direct cost that all fuel sellers will need to start paying to the state. Naturally, it depends on how much stock remains at gas stations as of May 1, but it's highly likely that the new duty rate will be felt by consumers within the week following the increase," stated Tarmo Kärsna, a board member of Alexela.

The excise duty on natural gas will also rise by nearly 20 percent. Additionally, the excise tax on fuel gas will increase by less than 5 percent, and the excise tax on heating oils will also go up. According to the Ministry of Finance, the overall impact of these excise increases on inflation is not significant.

"In annual terms, the impact is about 0.07 percentage points. For instance, if we are anticipating a price increase of 3.4 percent this year and these excise increases take effect from May 1, then without the impact of these excise increases, the price increase would be 3.35 percent instead of 3.4 percent," said Erki Lõhmuste, head of the Ministry of Finance's macroeconomics department.

In fact, the government is ending the tax reductions that were in place during the COVID period.

"For this and the next three years in May, the excise rates on energy carriers will increase, bringing us back to pre-COVID levels for diesel, natural gas and electricity," Lõhmuste explained.

According to Kärsna, by the end of the excise increases, the cost of diesel fuel will rise by 13 to 14 cents per liter.

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