Mar 29, 2026
3 min read
The Secretary General of FACUA speaks to Diario to assess the measures approved by the Government and their application at gas stations.
FACUA Secretary-General Rubén Sánchez: "The only effective measure against rising fuel prices is pricing"
The Secretary General of FACUA-Consumers in Action talks with Diario to evaluate the measures approved by the government and their application at gas stations.
The start of the war in the Middle East, with the start of the American and Israeli attacks on Iran, had an immediate consequence: the rise in fuel prices.That was the most obvious result for the pockets of millions of people around the world: suddenly, it became more expensive to fill a car's tank overnight.
Last Thursday (as of Monday of the same week), the European Union's oil journal published information on the increase: while gasoline has risen by 16% since the explosions began, diesel has risen by 29%, to the point of crossing, in some gas stations, the threshold of two euros per liter.A situation that has been partially mitigated by government action.
However, filling the tank is still more expensive than it was at the start of the war.While markets reacted positively to President Donald Trump's remarks on Monday that he had "productive discussions" with Iran, that trend is expected to continue over time.
However, some petrol stations will take the opportunity to raise prices before the 10% VAT cut comes into force.
"Makeup" actions
As for the measures themselves, he regrets that "they are not enough, they are nothing more than a financial structure."Instead of reducing VAT, the regulation promotes another option: price standardization."It's the only measure that pays off. In fact, in a survey of more than 4,200 consumers, we think seven out of ten are going to be the best price."
And some of the measures, which FACUA condemns, have been overshadowed by the behavior of some gas stations, which raised prices on the same Sunday they came into effect. "We knew it was coming. They did not go down as much as it was first transferred, the VAT reduction was not fully transferred. There were 25% of the gas stations that used hidden increases. That is, they did not postpone the entire reduction in VAT, but used the opportunity to raise the price."
Rules of profit
Will prices fall to the previous level?The question that FACUA general secretary did not make a prediction."I don't know, the problem here is that we are used to a lot of price increases and not falling at the same level, even if the cost remains the same as the original."
The price hike immediately affects consumers, another FACUA complaint said. "The increase happened before gas stations bought more expensive fuel and began using the price hike directly from March 3 to boost their profit margins."Off-market growth, while up until last Saturday before the measure went into effect, was not justified by the "51 cent" increase.
Tax on hydrocarbons
On the other hand, Sánchez explains what could happen with the reduction of the tax on hydrocarbons."In the case of diesel, it represents 0.11 euros per liter, which the oil company applies to the gas station when it buys new equipment in the coming days, but it is not known if the gas stations will transfer this reduction to the cost of consumers or if they will keep part or all of the reduction for themselves to increase their margins.
Finally, he calls it a "joke" that the margin control system adopted at the request of Podemos was sold "in large numbers".The competition is simply to monitor the margin of the oil companies, to ask them to send them information about their daily profit, but simply to know them, not to set limits. They have no limit on their profit.
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