The CNMC defends that gas stations have not used the 20-cent bonus to increase their margins

Competition considers that the discount on fuel has been transferred to customers and that it has not translated into an increase in the margins of gas stations. The president of the CNMC, Cani Fernández, has defended this Friday that of the more than 12,000 gas stations that exist in Spain, barely a hundred "anomalous cases" of price increases have been found. Thus, the competition defense authority defends that this measure has alleviated part of the increase in cost, although prices have continued to grow.

The discount on gasoline and diesel still does not work despite the fact that Spain spends more than France and Germany

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Fernández has assured that the CNMC has a digital tool that records the prices of gasoline at each of the service stations on a daily basis. "We closely follow their margins and we have not verified a general effect of absorption of the bonus", defended the representative of the supervisory body. "The margins have been contained and have decreased in many service stations," Fernández remarked on the last day of the UIMP summer courses in Santander.

"We are not seeing price increases that have eaten up the margins," he defended. The president of the CNMC has recognized that the prices of raw materials continue to grow, and therefore the final price, but has ensured that the comparison has to be made with the amount that customers would pay if those 20 cents of bonus did not exist. "The big groups are even competing with each other and are reducing their margins," she defended.

“We cannot forget the context. It is a historical situation. To say that we have eaten the measure is true, but the international markets continue to grow and at least those 20 cents are reaching the consumer”, he has settled.

The measure has been criticized for having lost effectiveness practically since its inception with the rise in fuel prices since April. This week, gasoline and diesel have again exceeded their maximums after registering average prices of 1,941 euros and 1,876 euros per liter, respectively, including that bonus of 20 cents per liter.

This Friday morning there were more than 5,500 pumps in which 98-octane gasoline cost 2 euros per liter or more. Gasoline with a lower octane rating, 95, was also sold for more than 2 euros at almost 10,000 gas stations; and the same occurred with diesel A in almost 10,000 points of sale.