• GABRIELA GALARZA

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Updated Wednesday,5April2023-01:40

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Those traveling by car this Easter will pay an average of 1.63 euros per liter of gasoline, the most expensive that is remembered at this time. Despite the fact that last year the pumps marked 1.79 euros per liter, consumers actually paid 1.59 euros thanks to the discount, then in force, of 20 cents per liter of fuel approved by the government on April 1, 2022 – just 9 days before Easter began – as a measure to alleviate the effects of the war in Ukraine.

Four months have passed since the end of the government bonus and, although the price of fuel has experienced a decrease in recent weeks, Spaniards will pay these holidays 2% more for their fuel tank than a year ago. This is reflected in the Oil Bulletin of the European Union, which includes the average price registered in more than 11,400 service stations in our country in the last week.

For diesel cars, on the other hand, refueling will be 6% cheaper than at the beginning of Easter last year, even with the help of the government included. Specifically, the data sent by the gas stations to Brussels estimate an average price of 1.54 euros per liter, compared to 1.63 a year ago. This is because in recent weeks the price of diesel has moderated and already adds seven weeks in which its cost remains below gasoline, as was usual before the war broke out, which caused the price of diesel to skyrocket and was the most expensive fossil fuel at service stations.

During this festive period, there are many who choose the car as a means of transport to reach their destinations. In a year in which tourism seems to have consolidated its activity after the Covid pandemic, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) foresees more than 16 million trips on Spanish roads since the departure operation started last Friday, March 31 until next Sunday, April 9. In this aspect and taking into account the current inflationary scenario, in which prices are skyrocketing and gasoline marks historical highs in a Holy Week, the end of government aid will be noticed in the pocket of drivers. With all this, filling an average tank of 55 liters of gasoline would cost, according to EU numbers, 89.5 euros, compared to 87.4 euros in 2022. In the case of diesel, the price will be 85 euros, while the previous year was 88.7 euros.

"They are unaffordable prices" says Nacho Rabadán, general director of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Entrepreneurs (CEEES), "it seems that we have normalized this situation, but it should not be so" and ensures that he does not rule out further increases in prices in the coming weeks. "We anticipate that the international prices of these products and, therefore, our purchase prices may rise, but it will take a few days with which it seems that we could free ourselves from this rise at Easter."

At the end of the discount of 20 cents approved by the government a year ago, the big oil companies such as Repsol, Cepsa, Galp and Shell join, which take advantage of the exit operation to cut their promotions in the liter of fuel that they applied to their loyal customers with the requirement to pay with their mobile applications or at least have them downloaded. If until now the reduction was about 10 cents per liter, since last weekend, the reduction is between 3 and 6 cents.

This has also caused the average price difference between automatic and traditional gas stations to grow to 15 cents during this Holy Week, as indicated by the National Association of Automatic Service Stations (AESAE).

According to data published by the Ministry for Energy Transition, there is a difference in prices between the different autonomous communities that can range between 10 and 18 cents per liter of gasoline.

In this sense, Navarra is the community where consumers who use gasoline can save the most when choosing the station, since the average difference is 19 cents between automatic and traditional gas stations. While in the Basque Country there is the largest difference in diesel with 18 cents.

Rabadán assures that the demand has fallen, in fact, this is corroborated by the latest report of the Tax Agency, which indicates that the collection of the hydrocarbons tax in February – the last month available – was 3.3% lower than the first two months of 2022. "The gene

You still come to our service stations, but the operations are of smaller amount, that is, the deposits are not filled if it is not of extreme necessity, if there is no other. People only throw the liters of gasoline they will need to go to work, home or, at most, go on the weekend, "he explains and ensures that in this sense, the end of the aid was noticed considerably. "The first two weeks of January we were sitting idly by at the gas stations because everyone took the opportunity to fill the tank in the last days of December to benefit from that bonus."


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  • DGT
  • Tax Agency
  • Petrol
  • Diesel