Background
In October 2005 DPD began charging a diesel surcharge on the basis of the consumer price index for Germany. This is published by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden (Technical series 17/ Series 7) and reflects the latest price trends. The consumer price index, and accordingly the basis for the calculation of the diesel surcharge, is revised every five years in the official German price statistics. As part of the current index reform, which involves the introduction of a new weighting system, the values for the past few years have been re-calculated for the new base year of 2005. The exact procedure for the revision procedure can be seen in the monthly bulletin of the Federal Statistical Office for January 2008.

The change in base year has no effect on the calculation of the future index-based diesel surcharges applied by DPD, because such changes in base year are factored into the calculation of the diesel surcharge.

Only the increased costs which are caused by the increase in diesel prices are passed on via the index-based diesel surcharge. The basis for the diesel surcharge is the index for diesel fuels from January 2005, which has a value of 90.3 points. For each increase of one point a diesel surcharge of 0.186% is charged on the transport price. If there is a return to the base value in future the diesel surcharge falls to 0% once more. The consumer price indices are calculated on a monthly basis and published by the Federal Statistical Office. The new diesel surcharge then applies to all parcels for the following month. As transparency towards our customers is important to us, we regard it as our duty to keep you informed about current developments at all times. As a result you can check the latest status of the diesel surcharge here whenever you wish.

What else do customers need to know?
The surcharge affects all domestic and international road transport services ( DPD CLASSIC, DPD 8:30, DPD 10:00, DPD 12:00, DPD 18:00, DPD PARCELLetter, DPD PARCELLetter+ and DPD GUARANTEE). The surcharges are indicated separately and are in line with actual market developments.

Further information
The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden makes the consumer prices indices for Technical series 17, Series 7, for Download here.

The Federal Statistical Office makes available further information on the general calculation of the indices for consumer prices.

For more information you can contact your DPD depot at any time.

Downloads Diesel fuels: Development consumer price and surcharge since 2005 (71.58 kB) Development diesel fuel and raw oil (85.01 kB) Consumer price index for diesel, Federal Statistical Office, series 17, part 7 - only available in German (44.27 kB)

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