Queues to refuel a few hours after the 20 cent discount ends

«I have rushed until the last moment. I do not add gasoline tomorrow because the reserve driver had already skipped me, ”Mari Ángeles Larrosa shared this Friday from the window and with four cars ahead of her. All of them drivers who, like her, hurried the last hours to answer at the ‘cheapest’ price. “They could leave it like that longer. That in January, with the slope that comes to us … », she commented with humor.

Less than 24 hours after the end of the anti-crisis measure that perhaps the pocket has most appreciated this year, the queues at the gas stations in the Region were already considerable this Friday. And this Saturday, surely, more than one will take the opportunity to make the mandatory visit to their trusted station before sitting down to gobble up and toast the new year at New Year’s Eve dinner.

At least the businessmen consulted by this newspaper hope so. For the most part, they are prepared to have the pumps as requested as they were back in April, when this unprecedented reduction came into effect. “It’s being crazy,” corroborates José Navarro, manager of Hermanos Navarro, with eight service stations spread throughout the regional geography. “Sales have almost doubled since yesterday. We have even had to reinforce the staff », he admits.

last minute orders

So much so that, just a few hours before the chime rings, station managers are already finding last-minute problems to stock up. “It seems that the oil companies have already closed the 2022 sales,” says Vicente Bernal, owner of the V2 service stations. “Several orders have been canceled since Tuesday. They have already told us in Escombreras that nothing until Monday, “Navarro also comments.

Even so, from the Association of Service Stations of the Region they clear up doubts and ensure that there will be no shortage. Nor will there be on January 1 those computer problems that starred in the first bars of the discount. Those that led to the collapse of large chains like Repsol. «You have to take into account that we were asked to change everything from a Wednesday to a Thursday. And, of course, that was chaos, ”recalls Navarro. This time, he says, they are more prepared. «The computer scientists have been working for a week. Also, this time, rather than adding something new, it is about removing what was done then. It is easier”. “Although with this technology thing you never know until the day comes,” responds his colleague Bernal with a laugh.

“Relief” for SMEs

Although no one is pleased that as of Sunday they have to scratch their pockets a little more for fuel, the truth is that for gas stations it will be a “relief.” Until now, the stations were obliged to advance the discount money each month and in 2023 they will only do so for carriers and the primary sector. For this reason, that this reduction disappears, at least it will help them not to measure themselves so much when requesting a tank to recover. “We were paying about 70,000 euros more per month and they did not return it to us until at least the 15th of the following month,” says Navarro. «It was as if we were a financier. By lending money to the government but, unlike a bank, we couldn’t charge them interest.” In the opinion of this businessman, “they should have lowered the hydrocarbons tax or that they would have advanced us the money and then make accounts according to what was sold,” he says.

A fight that Bernal claims, the big oil companies have not weathered as prepared as the SMEs. “We do not have the same ability to make offers or the same marketing,” he abounds. “There are people who think that we are getting rich with the rise in fuel when our margins have been reduced by almost half. It is the oil companies that are having extraordinary benefits.”

Next year, for now, the uncertainty is total. If, on the one hand, with the disappearance of the discount, “we expect retail sales to drop,” they recall that prices have been rising in the last month and that “we are also seeing that less and less fuel is entering,” Bernal analyzes.

Tomorrow only carriers will benefit from the discount. / rc

BP, Shell, Disa, Repsol, Cepsa and Galp will give a 10 cent discount until March 31

After the announcement of the end of the bonus of 20 cents per liter by the Government last Tuesday, this Sunday only carriers and the primary sector will be able to access it. Even so, large oil companies such as Cepsa, Galp, Shell or Disa will maintain a reduction of 10 cents until March 31. The first to announce it was Repsol and the last to jump on the bandwagon was BP yesterday. The condition common to all of them is that purchases be made through the ‘apps’ or the loyalty cards of each company. In the case of BP, another discount will be added to the 10 cents for responding with the ‘Ultimate’ range. Cepsa will follow the same strategy with its ‘Optima’ range or Shell and Disa with their Shell V-Power, DISAMax, Shell Fuel Save, DISAEco and DISA Autogas ranges. Galp will go a little further and, for its part, will offer customers using ‘Galp World’ a single-use coupon of 25 cents per liter, which could raise the total bonus in some refuelings up to 35 cents .