The impact of inflation is becoming increasingly palpable in Spanish households. The constant escalation of prices, which ranges from basic products to essential services, directly hits the pockets of citizens, leading them to explore various strategies to optimize their budget and comfortably reach the end of each month.
Finding effective ways to stretch money has become a priority for families seeking to maintain financial balance amid inflationary pressures. A practical strategy to alleviate the daily financial burden is found in choosing gas stations that offer cheaper prices.
According to a study by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), refueling at the cheapest service stations can save 10% when recharging the car with gasoline or diesel. This organization has prepared a report to establish the most economical chains by comparing the prices of more than 10,000 gas stations throughout Spain.
The data was collected between March and May of this year, when prices were relatively stable, before rising rapidly again in the summer. Even so, the price of fuel never again rose above 2 euros per liter as happened in February 2022 when the war in Ukraine broke out. Then some users came to equate fuel as a luxury item, publishing all kinds of jokes and memes that went viral on social networks.
To calculate the price of fuel for the chains that supply gasoline and diesel in Spain, the OCU establishes a mechanism based on monitoring daily prices. The cheapest chain, which has the lowest relative position, receives the index 100 for each fuel and the rest of the chains are ranked relative to it according to their price level. For example, a chain with an index of 114 is 14% more expensive than the cheapest chain.
After analyzing the data collected between the months of March and May, the OCU concludes that BonÀrea is the cheapest chain in diesel A, gasoline 95 and gasoline 98. This supermarket chain, which only operates in Catalonia and areas of Aragón already obtained the best result in the study carried out last year by the consumer defense organization.
In the case of diesel, GM Oil – a chain of service stations linked to GM cash -, Beroil, Campsa Express – the ‘low cost’ variant of Campsa -, and Petroprix also stand out. Except for Beroil, these are chains of self-service automatic gas stations without physical personnel.
In the case of normal gasoline, GM Oil, Campsa Express, Petroprix and Plenoil stand out from the rest. The OCU study highlights that in the case of improved diesel or LPG, the chain with the best prices is Ballenoil. However, it specifies that not all of this brand’s service stations offer these products, which is also what happens with other small, ‘low cost’ chains or those associated with supermarkets.
If, in general, the prices better than the average (set at 110) are found in ‘low cost’ chains, small chains and the group of independents, the most popular service stations tend to also be the most expensive. In the case of diesel, the chains with the highest prices are three with the largest network of gas stations in Spain: Repsol, Cepsa and BP.
In the case of gasoline, the most expensive chains are BP, Petronor and Petrocat, but Repsol and Cepsa are hardly far behind. The prices at these service stations are at least 9% higher than those offered by the cheapest brands, which represents an extra cost of up to 20 cents per liter.
The price difference between the cheapest and most expensive gas stations can also be extrapolated to your geographical location. Murcia and Valladolid have the cheapest diesel, while Lleida, Córdoba and Almería are the ones with the best average gasoline prices.
Vizcaya, Asturias and Guipúzcoa are the provinces with the most expensive gas stations. In these territories, the average price of fuel is 5% higher than that of the cheapest provinces, which is equivalent to about 8 cents per liter. But the Balearic Islands surpass them all, with prices 7% higher and more than 10 cents average difference.
Regarding the provinces with a higher percentage of cheap service stations are Navarra, Almería and Murcia. Between 41 and 44% of gas stations in these three provinces have affordable prices. A little less in Valladolid, Córdoba, Lleida, Toledo and Barelona.
However, in the Balearic Islands, only 4% of gas stations are economical. In Guipúzcoa, Orense, Asturias, Ávila, Palencia and La Rioja the percentages of cheap gas stations vary between 12 and 18%.
The OCU has a gas station search engine on its website so that the user can locate the most economical service stations. This tool allows you to select the type of fuel and limit the exploration area to a radius of 1 to 50 kilometers from the address or zip code entered in the search engine.
