Why is fuel dearer on La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma?

Tax is not the reason — the Canary fuel levy is lowest there. The CNMC points to market structure, Disa to volume and logistics; there is no official finding.

Are the Canaries now dearer than mainland Spain?

No. On 22 September the mainland and the Balearics stood at 1.946 euros for diesel by our calculation, the Canaries at 1.679. Before tax, however, fuel is dearer on the islands.

Is there a discount for the western islands?

Yes. The Agencia Tributaria Canaria rebates the price on the non-capital islands: in the third quarter of 2026 by 0.15 euros a litre on El Hierro and La Palma and 0.20 on La Gomera.

Where can I see my station's current price?

At the Geoportal de Hidrocarburos, geoportalgasolineras.es.

Canary Islands diesel at yearly high: 1.674 euros a litre

Q: What does the IGIC step on 1 October cost?

If passed on in full, around 1.68 cents a litre of diesel and 1.54 a litre of petrol — 84 and 77 cents on a 50-litre fill. Our own calculation.

Canary Islands diesel at its yearly high: 1.674 euros a litre — and the west pays 20 cents more

On 22 September 2026 diesel in the Canary Islands averaged 1.674 euros a litre — the highest figure of the year, from the daily series of the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), first reported by Atlántico Hoy. Anyone filling up on La Gomera, El Hierro or La Palma pays roughly 20 cents on top of that. We recalculated the prices ourselves, measured the gap between the islands and worked out what the IGIC will cost from 1 October.

24 September 2026 · 5 min · By Martin Kosinski · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

The yearly high — and what was actually measured

The CNMC publishes a single figure for the whole archipelago. We recalculated the same reference date from the daily file of the Geoportal de Hidrocarburos: 1.679 euros as the average across 497 Canary filling stations, and 1.536 euros for petrol. The petrol price is not a record — Atlántico Hoy gives a peak of 1.632 euros for late June 2022. And the 1.781 euros are not the price of premium diesel but of renewable diesel; we arrive at 1.782 and 1.775 euros respectively.

La Gomera, El Hierro, La Palma: what the daily data show

The per-island figures come from a weekly series — not from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, as the report states, but from the hydrocarbons statistics of the Instituto Canario de Estadística. For the week of 7 to 13 September it gives diesel on La Gomera at 1.842 euros, El Hierro at 1.831 and La Palma at 1.780.

The market has moved on since. Our analysis of the daily file for 22 September gives island averages for diesel of 1.886 euros on La Palma, 1.885 on La Gomera and 1.871 on El Hierro — then, well behind, Tenerife at 1.685, Gran Canaria at 1.649 and Fuerteventura at 1.616. For petrol La Gomera remains the dearest island at 1.745 euros; the cheapest pump there stood at 1.869 euros — more than the dearest pump on the whole of Gran Canaria.

Why the west pays more

Tax is not the reason. The Dirección General de Energía lists the Canary fuel levy in its monthly report: 3 cents a litre on Gran Canaria and Tenerife, 2 cents on Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma — and on La Gomera and El Hierro 0.079 cents on petrol and nothing on diesel. The dearest islands are the most lightly taxed.

The soundest published explanation comes from the CNMC. Its bulletin for September 2025, analysed on 2 December 2025, records that stations of the Grupo Disa had the highest prices and independent brands the lowest, and that where independents open, prices fall almost immediately. On El Hierro on 22 September three Disa stations all stood at 1.899 euros, while the single independent one in Frontera was at 1.789. On La Gomera six of seven stations were at 1.889 or 1.899 euros; the spread there was two cents, against 34.6 on Tenerife.

That does not amount to an official finding, and the other side is on the record: in eldiario.es/canariasahora of 1 May 2022 Bernabé Rodríguez, then head of Disa Retail, attributed the prices to low volume — a tanker serves three stations on the small islands instead of ten to fifteen on Tenerife. The CNMC itself found no structural competition problems nationally in June 2026.

The Canaries against the mainland — and against last year

In level terms the islands remain cheaper. On 22 September diesel on the mainland and the Balearics cost 1.946 euros by our calculation and petrol 1.945 — 26.7 and 40.9 cents more than in the Canaries. The advantage is a tax advantage: for August 2026 the Dirección General de Energía puts petrol in the Canaries at 144.3 cents against 171.6 on the mainland, but before tax at 115.8 against 104.5. The product itself is dearer on the islands.

The year-on-year comparison depends heavily on the measure used. By our calculation the Canary diesel price rose over twelve months from 1.131 to 1.679 euros — 48.5 percent; petrol from 1.143 to 1.536 euros, 34.4 percent. On the mainland the figures were 37.0 and 30.4. The often-quoted figure of almost 30 percent comes from the consumer price index.

1 October: one percent of IGIC — our own calculation

The zero IGIC rate on petrol, diesel and gas expires on 30 September; from 1 October article 33 bis sets a rate of one percent. Applied to the prices of 22 September and assuming it is passed on in full, that is 1.68 cents a litre of diesel and 1.54 a litre of petrol — 84 and 77 cents on a 50-litre tank, our own calculation. For comparison: the same litre of diesel has risen by 54.8 cents in a year.

No extension has been published so far; the most recent fuel notice from the Agencia Tributaria Canaria is dated 31 August. The island rebate for the fourth quarter is also open: on 22 September the three islands stood 20.3 to 22.0 cents above the average of the main islands by our calculation.