Price of gasoline today, August 24, 2026: how much it costs to fill the tank

In Spain, service stations set their prices freely, but they are subject to a set of very strict legal obligations regarding how they must communicate those prices both to the Administration and to consumers. These obligations are mainly based on Order ITC/2308/2007 and recent legislation linked to Royal Decree‑Law 7/2026 and its reform, along with the sanctioning regime of the Hydrocarbons Sector Law.

1. Freedom of prices but with taxes included

• Fuel prices at service stations are not administered prices: each owner can set the price they consider appropriate, based on their costs and commercial strategy.
• However, the retail price communicated to the Administration and displayed to the consumer must be the final pump price including taxes (VAT and Special Hydrocarbons Tax), according to the practice described by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition regarding the Hydrocarbons Geoportal and the very definition of “retail price” in Order ITC/2308/2007.
• Temporary tax reductions (for example, the reduction of VAT or the Special Hydrocarbons Tax approved in Royal Decree‑Law 7/2026, analyzed by the CNMC in its blog on fuels) must be passed on to the final pump price; failure to effectively pass them on may lead to inspections and specific analyses by the CNMC and Consumer Protection authorities.

2. Mandatory price communication to the Ministry (Order ITC/2308/2007)

The central regulation governing how gas stations must communicate their prices is Order ITC/2308/2007, of July 25, on the submission of information to the then Ministry of Industry, now Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (text in the BOE).

• Who is obliged: wholesale operators and owners of vehicle supply facilities (including cooperatives and independent networks) that sell petroleum products at retail.
• What must be sent:
  • Retail prices by product (gasoline 95, 98, diesel, biodiesel, etc.).
  • Discounts and commercial conditions, when applicable.
  • Quantities sold and basic installation data.
• Frequency and deadlines (arts. 5 and 6 of the Order):
  • Weekly communication: every Monday (or the next business day if it is a holiday), even if there are no changes.
  • Communication whenever the price changes: at most three days in advance and at least one hour before the new price is applied at the pump.
  • Monthly and annual aggregated information on prices and volumes, following the technical formats set out in the annexes of the Order.
• Method of submission: obligatorily by electronic means (web portal and file formats defined in the annex); the Order even details the file structure and, at the time, the use of SMS for punctual price changes.
• Public dissemination: the Ministry may disseminate public information (prices and basic installation data) by computer or telematic means (art. 20), which serves as the basis for the current Hydrocarbons Geoportal, where prices are updated based on data sent by stations (Demócrata and CNMC explain this in several articles).

3. Hydrocarbons Geoportal and transparency towards the consumer

• The prices appearing on the Geoportal and the official app «GeoGasolineras» come from the information that owners are legally obliged to submit according to Order ITC/2308/2007.
• According to explanations from the Ministry itself and collected by Demócrata, stations must submit their prices every Monday and whenever they change them, and the system updates the data continuously, so the published price is the current one communicated by the installation.
• The amounts shown include taxes but do not necessarily reflect personalized discounts (cards, promotions, etc.), which are additional commercial elements.

4. Strengthened information obligations to the CNMC and margin control

• Royal Decree‑Law 7/2026 and its subsequent development, in the context of the crisis in the Middle East, have reinforced the obligation of operators to inform the CNMC weekly about:
  • Their acquisition costs of petroleum products.
  • Fuel sale prices to service stations.
  These obligations have been extended and expanded, according to official notes from MITECO (note of 06/16/2026) and Moncloa (06/29/2026).
• The CNMC uses this information to:
  • Monitor the gross margins of gas stations and detect “abnormal behaviors.”
  • Publish periodic reports on the fuel market and the degree of compliance with the price submission obligation (as detailed by the CNMC itself in its fuel blog).
• Failure to comply with these information obligations is classified as a serious infringement, with fines that, according to the framework described in Demócrata and the Hydrocarbons Sector Law, can reach several million euros.

5. New obligations towards the consumer (reform of RDL 7/2026)

The latest reform of RDL 7/2026, explained in official Consumer notes and collected by Demócrata, adds obligations directly linked to how prices are set and explained to the end user:

• Creation of a public list of stations with “abnormal behavior” (price increases not justified by their real costs), published by the CNMC.
• Obligation for stations included in that list to have a visible, accessible, and free complaint channel in the establishment and on their website, operational even for a time after leaving the list.
• Shared responsibility: if the final price is set by the wholesale operator, the station must provide the consumer with the identity and contact details of that operator so they can direct the economic claim.
• If the station rejects the claim, it must inform about extrajudicial dispute resolution channels and the competent consumer authorities.

In summary, service stations in Spain are free to set their prices but must communicate them punctually to the Ministry and the CNMC, display the final price with taxes to the consumer, and comply with a growing set of transparency obligations and complaint channels, whose violation is sanctioned as a serious infringement under the Hydrocarbons Sector Law and consumer protection regulations.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) plays a key role in regulating the hydrocarbons sector and in the transparency of fuel prices, but it does not generally and directly set the price of gasoline and diesel at service stations, which are free prices. Its competencies are mainly in regulating the sector framework, managing information, and coordinating with the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) and other ministries.

1. General framework: liberalized prices and basic sector regulation

Law 34/1998, on the hydrocarbons sector, establishes that hydrocarbon supply activities are carried out under free competition. Within this framework:

• The Government sets the basic regulation of the sector, including methodologies for some tolls, fees, and regulated tariffs (for example, charges of the gas system or last-resort tariffs in cases provided by law).
• The ministry responsible for energy –currently MITECO– prepares and proposes this regulation to the Council of Ministers and issues ministerial orders that develop the law (for example, orders updating systems for determining maximum prices of liquefied petroleum gases or gas system charges, such as Order TED/211/2025 or Order IET/389/2015 cited in the BOE).

In automotive fuels (gasoline and diesel at gas stations), the final retail price is free: each service station sets it. Therefore, MITECO does not set an administratively fixed price per liter, except in specific regulated segments (such as certain liquefied petroleum gases) and regulated components of the energy system.

2. Powers over operators and market discipline

Law 34/1998 also grants the ministry competencies related to petroleum sector operators:

• Management of the registry and regime of wholesale operators of petroleum products. Based on this legal basis, MITECO can, for example, disqualify an operator that fails to meet the required conditions, as recent orders show that “disqualify from exercising the activity of wholesale operator of fuels and petroleum products” certain companies, issued “under the authority granted by article 42 of Law 34/1998 to the holder of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.”
• Relations with the CNMC and the Strategic Reserves Corporation of Petroleum Products for communication of operator registrations/deregistrations and other sector obligations.

Although these decisions do not “set” the price, they can affect the degree of effective competition in the market and, therefore, the formation of fuel prices.

3. Price transparency: Geoportal and station data

An important part of public control over prices is articulated through collection and dissemination of information, a competence where MITECO has a direct role:

• The ministry holds the price data communicated by service stations and makes it available to the public on the Gas Stations Geoportal / Hydrocarbons Geoportal, an official tool that allows consulting prices by station, fuel type, and location (explained in Demócrata articles).
• This information is also used as a basis for analyses of the fuel market and to support coordination with the CNMC and the Ministry of Economy.

4. Coordination with the CNMC and enhanced supervision

Monitoring of fuel prices and margins mainly corresponds to the CNMC, created by Law 3/2013. However, MITECO promotes and politically conditions its actions:

• In recent royal decree-laws linked to the Middle East crisis (for example, RDL 7/2026 and its second package of measures, described in Moncloa notes), the Government, “at the request of MITECO and the Ministry of Economy,” has empowered the CNMC to collect detailed information on costs and fuel sale prices from operators and service stations.
• The Council of Ministers has extended, at MITECO’s proposal, the obligation of operators with refining capacity to report weekly to the CNMC on acquisition costs and fuel sale prices to stations, aiming for the regulator to “better assess and supervise the degree of effective competition in the sector” (MITECO press release, 06/16/2026).
• MITECO participates in permanent institutional coordination with Economy and the CNMC to enhance transparency, share data, and monitor price and margin behavior, as reiterated by both the ministry itself and the CNMC president in their appearances.

5. Exceptional measures and tax incentives

In crisis contexts, MITECO promotes, together with other ministries, measures that indirectly affect the final price:

• Proposal of temporary tax reductions (such as VAT on fuels or the Special Hydrocarbons Tax), approved by royal decree-law by the Government and fiscally managed by the Treasury, but in whose design the Ministry for the Ecological Transition participates; the Vice President for Ecological Transition has publicly defended these reductions as “completely justified” in the context of the energy crisis.
• Design, with Economy and CNMC, of mechanisms for margin control and publication of lists of stations with abnormal behaviors, to ensure that tax reductions and public aid are effectively passed on to the consumer.

In summary, MITECO does not set the price of each liter of fuel at gas stations, but it does: regulate the basic framework of the hydrocarbons sector, issue rules that may affect regulated components of prices, manage the registry and discipline of operators, centralize and publish price information, and lead, together with Economy, coordination with the CNMC and the design of extraordinary transparency and margin control measures.

In Spain, gasoline and diesel are mainly subject to two tax figures: VAT and the Special Hydrocarbons Tax (IEH). Together they account for around 40‑45 % of the final price you pay at the gas station, somewhat below the usual level in several Western European countries.

1. Taxes levied on gasoline and diesel in Spain

1.1. VAT on fuels

The general VAT rate in Spain is 21 % and is the one ordinarily applied to gasoline and diesel for automotive use. In 2026, a temporary reduction was approved:

• The Government reduced the VAT on fuels from 21 % to 10 % as part of the response plan to the war in Iran (Moncloa note).
• This reduction was in effect for a few months and ended on June 30, 2026; since July, it returned to 21 %, which immediately increased the price of gasoline and diesel ( Demócrata, 07/23/2026).

According to a recent estimate, in gasoline 95 VAT represents about €0.30/l, and in diesel A, a slightly lower figure, within the total taxes charged per liter ( Demócrata, 08/21/2026).

1.2. Special Hydrocarbons Tax

This is a specific tax, set in cents per liter, different for gasoline and diesel. Before the exceptional reductions linked to the crisis, the references were:

• Diesel A: around €0.38/l of hydrocarbons tax.
• Gasoline: around €0.47/l of hydrocarbons tax.

An analysis by Demócrata explains that this tax “is 38 cents per liter in the case of diesel and 47 cents per liter for gasoline, and remains a fixed part of the fuel price” ( Demócrata, 03/22/2026).

During 2026, a temporary reduction of the IEH was also approved (15, 10, and 5 cents per liter between July and September, with a possible increase to 20 cents if prices rose sharply), effectively setting the tax rate at the minimum allowed by European regulations ( Treasury, 06/29/2026).

1.3. Total tax burden on the final price

Adding VAT and IEH, recent estimates place:

• Gasoline 95: about €0.77/l in taxes (approx. 44‑45 % of the final price).
• Diesel A: about €0.70/l in taxes, around 37‑38 % of the final price.

These figures come from breakdowns published in August 2026 based on average prices in the Peninsula and Balearic Islands ( Demócrata, 08/21/2026).

2. Comparison with other European countries

The European Commission publishes weekly the Weekly Oil Bulletin, with gasoline and diesel prices including taxes in the 27 Member States. Based on that data, a recent analysis shows that:

• As of July 2026, the average price of gasoline 95 in Spain was around €1.58/l, and diesel €1.62/l ( “European map of gasoline and diesel…”, 08/18/2026).
• Countries like Finland, Denmark, Germany, or the Netherlands clearly exceed €2/l for both fuels, reflecting a higher tax burden per liter.
• Spain consistently remains below the EU and eurozone average in gasoline and diesel prices, according to multiple bulletins and summaries collected by Demócrata in 2025 and 2026.

Although the community bulletin distinguishes between price before and after taxes, the consulted articles emphasize that the difference between Spain and countries with more expensive fuels is largely explained by:

• A lower level of taxes than in states with more burdensome policies.
• Price adaptation to the purchasing power of Spanish consumers.

3. Spain's relative position

All in all, it can be said that:

• Spain applies a significant tax burden on gasoline and diesel (around half the price for gasoline and somewhat less for diesel), but
• it ranks in the lower-middle part of the EU in fuel tax pressure, clearly below countries with the highest energy taxes, although above the European minimums after the temporary IEH reductions.

In summary, Spanish drivers pay a significant fraction of the fuel price in taxes, but less than in many neighboring European countries, where the fiscal component is higher and pushes final prices clearly above those in Spain.