Today is the day that the government’s Autovoucher scheme begins – the plan to give everyday citizens cash back on fuel purchases as a means of softening the effects of rising fuel costs (click here).
Roughly 2,000 fuel stations are ‘on board’ with newspapers giving ‘easy-to-use’ information to drivers on where they are.
Expresso, for example, is a perfect source (click here). All people have to do is insert the name of their municipality, and up comes the name of fuel stations taking part.
The next thing is for drivers to sign-up to the ‘Autovoucher’ scheme themselves.
This can be done via this link, which early this morning ‘crashed’ due to the number of people trying to gain access.
Once ‘accepted’, the next steps are simple: drivers fill up at a participating fuel station and will be entitled to 10% back on every litre of petrol or diesel purchase, up to a monthly limit of 50 litres.
The full benefit amounts to €5 per month, per driver (not per car).
The scheme is due to run until March 2022, meaning the maximum drivers will be entitled to by the end is €25.
One important aspect to remember is that payments have to be made by ‘card’ (debit/ credit); not in cash.
Another less-known fact is that the moment a driver stops to fill-up (or even just top up), the €5 monthly allowance will be immediately actioned for credit to his/ her bank account.
Explains Público: “According to the Finance ministry, if in a determined month the driver doesn’t spend enough to use the discount in its totality, the remainder passes to the next month, and can be used in the future, until March”.
The credit should appear in people’s accounts within two days of their payment at the pumps.
Autovoucher has been devised on the back of the IVAucher scheme which has already ‘reimbursed’ citizens for expenses at restaurants and within the culture sector last summer by around €5.5 million.
The government has said that the ‘cash-back-on-fuel’ initiative “will inject the equivalent of €133 million into the pockets of Portuguese families”.
