In recent weeks in Spain, the goods that have to do with energy are giving authentic headaches to citizens, the electric blackout that Spain suffered during Monday, April 28, and more recently the blackout suffered by the citizens of La Palma where more than 20,000 neighbors were left without light this Thursday. Well then, If there is an energy good that not only is not giving problems but is lowering its price is that of fuelsespecially gasoline and diesel. In this article we will see why.
Many readers will remember the great escalation in the fuel prices that were lived in Spain (and in Europe) as a consequence of Russia’s invasion to Ukraine in February 2022, which raised the prices of gasoline to a historic 2.14 euros per liter, while the diesel reached 2.08 euros per liter, some figures never seen in Spain. However, That moment marked a turning point and since then fuel prices have been sustained And we find this situation today:
As can be seen in the graph, the price of both gasoline and diesel reached its maximum in mid -2022, and since then it has been falling, despite suffering different peaks of ups and downs. So, we can observe that The price of gasoline was not so low since week 41 of the year 2021when the price of gasoline was 1.45 euros per liter, while on week 19 of 2025 (last data available) it was found in 1.46 euros per liter.
Exactly the same has happened with diesel, that did not have such a reduced price since week 3 of the year 2022when it had a price of 1.36 euros per liter, although it also had a similar price for a fleeting week in 2024. Currently the price of diesel is 1.38 euros per liter.
-Has the government had something to do with this fall?
There are those who might think that this fall in fuel prices has been thanks to the government, which could have eliminated some of the taxes associated with fuels, but nothing is further from reality.
If this fall in fuel prices can be explained by something is because of the Brent barrel price drop, whose price was above $ 100 on the indicated dates of the year 2022 and currently meets a price that is around $ 65. The government has had nothing to do with this price reduction, much less contributed to it by reducing or eliminating any tax from those affecting gasoline or diesel.
If the current price of gasoline is 1.46 euros per liter, we have that 0.254 euros are allocated to VAT of 21% and 0.472 euros are allocated to the Hydrocarbons Tax, so that 49.7% of the price of gasoline are taxes. And the same goes for the price of diesel, where 0.238 euros are allocated to the payment of VAT and 0.379 to the payment of hydrocarbons taxes, which represents 45% of the final price of the diesel.
In short, Spanish citizens can finally celebrate good news and that is not to scratch their pocket when they are going to repost to a gas station, and curiously This good news has occurred without the Pedro Sánchez government having had anything to do with it.
