ARCHIVED - Small filling stations in Spain face closure due to 20-cent discount
The cost of petrol and diesel in Spain will be drastically reduced from Friday April 1
The government’s Response Plan to the war in Ukraine comes into effect on Friday April 1, and many consumers are preparing to hit petrol stations across Spain to take advantage of the 20 cent per litre discount that will be on offer. Petrol and diesel prices have been steadily rising, breaking all historic records, but not everyone is happy about the fuel bonus.
In fact, small- and medium-sized filling stations have warned that the fuel bonus for consumers and professional carriers could well break them, and many claim that they cannot afford to begin offering the bonus on April 1. Companies are entitled to cash-back from the Tax Agency, but not for another month, and although service stations can request an “advance on account” that would cover 90% of the cost, many fear that the discount will put them out of business.
The National Association of Automatic Service Stations (Aesae), which represents twenty of the smaller chains including Plenoil, which had to shut up shop in Murcia recently after it ran out of fuel, has argued that many filling stations have already been selling petrol at cost to minimise the impact of the energy crisis on consumers. These further discounts will “suffocate” small businesses.
On the other hand, the government has been forced to take action against some gas stations in Spain who have begun hiking up their prices by as much as ten cents per litre in anticipation of Friday’s changes.
To ensure that consumers benefit fully from the new discounts, the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sanchez, has tasked the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) with supervising the country’s more than 11,500 filling stations to ensure that there are no suspicious increases.
Of the total number, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 70% of all the filling stations in Spain, and it is estimated that each will lose an average of 1,000 euros per day when the new fuel discount is applied.
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