Government interventions are holding down fuel and electricity costs for households, with motorists paying about 50 cents a litre less at the pump than market rates would otherwise dictate, Minister of Energy Business Development and Commerce Kerrie Symmonds has said.

The measures, introduced in this year’s Budget, have kept petrol prices below what they would otherwise have been, said the energy minister.

The government continues to absorb 50 per cent of the fuel clause adjustment and cap value added tax (VAT) at 7.5 per cent on the first 250 kilowatt-hours of electricity.