The Facua consumers association has filed complaints against 32 petrol stations across Valencia that raised fuel prices by 5 cents or more on April 1, the day that the same amount in discounts were to be imposed by the government.
Given the lack of response from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to the 230 complaints at the national level and the question of whether it will have transferred the facts to the autonomous communities, Facua has chosen to go directly to its consumer protection administrations, which have sanctioning power.
The complaints in the Valencian Community have been filed with the General Directorate of Commerce and Consumption, dependent on the Ministry of Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Commerce and Labour.
Facua has also denounced the events before the eight autonomous competition agencies, also with sanctioning powers. In the Valencian case, it is the Commission for the Defence of Competition, also dependent on the Ministry of Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Commerce and Labour. On April 6, Facua already informed the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) of the increases.
In addition to determining whether each reported gas station should be sanctioned, Facua also considers it necessary to investigate whether there have been agreements in certain provinces to apply the increases in parallel. Toledo, Valencia and Seville are the provinces with the most reported service stations of the 37 where he detected increases of at least 5 cents on the morning of Friday, April 1.
On the morning of April 1, the reported service stations applied increases of at least 5 cents, which is the margin discount that the sector has to contribute, as established in article 15 of Royal Decree-Law 6/2022, of 29 March, which adopts urgent measures within the framework of the National Response Plan to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Thus, 208 of the more than 5,000 petrol stations that updated their prices and communicated them to the Ministry for Ecological Transition on the morning of April 1 applied increases of 5 cents or more in diesel prices. As for 95 petrol, the rise of 5 cents or more occurred on Friday morning at 171 service stations. The association obtained the data on the mornings of March 31 and April 1 through the Geoportal website, belonging to the Ministry.
By autonomous communities, Andalusia is the region with the highest number of reported stations, 65, which are divided into 4 in Almería, 5 in Cádiz, 11 in Córdoba, 12 in Granada, 4 in Huelva, 9 in Jaén, 3 in Málaga and 17 in Sevilla.
Castilla-La Mancha occupies the second position, with 46 gas stations: Albacete (4), Ciudad Real (10), Cuenca (1), Guadalajara (5) and Toledo (26). The latter is the province with the most establishments that raised their prices on April 1. Comunitat Valenciana is in third place, with eleven stations in Alicante, one in Castellón and twenty in Valencia. A total of 32.
Of the 230 service stations reported, 26 belong to Repsol. In second place, the chain that accumulates the most complaints is ES Carburantes, with 12, followed by Farruco SA, with 10. Next, Cepsa, with 8 stations, Galp with 7, MaxOil with 6 and BP with 4.
Agla, Avia and Petronor have 3 stations against which complaints have been filed, Ballenoil and Campsa 2 each, and Petrogas and Shell close the list with 1. In addition to these chains, another 142 independent gas stations have been reported.
Petrol stations have to pass on to consumers a rebate of at least 20 cents, including taxes, on the retail price of petrol and diesel refuelled between April 1 and June 30. Of these, 15 cents will be returned to them, charged to the General State Budget.
FACUA reminds that the prices that are reported to the public at service stations do not include the 20-cent discount. Article 16 of the royal decree-law indicates that in the facilities “the retail price of the product must be advertised before applying the discount”.
