When does the new rate on petrol, diesel and gas start?

On 1 October 2026: article 1 of Decreto ley 4/2026 ends the zero rate on 30 September, after which article 33 bis applies at 1 per cent.

What will firewood or pellets carry in tax from October?

That is open. They are not in the new article 33 bis, and the terms appear in no rate article. Possible are 3 per cent under article 34.Uno.a) or 7 per cent under article 32.1. Ask your supplier or the Agencia Tributaria Canaria.

Has an extension been announced?

Not as of 16 September 2026: no such decreto ley in BOC issues 175 to 186, and the Agencia's most recent tax notice, of 9 September, concerns other business.

Is fuel in the Canaries now the most expensive in Spain?

No. The INE measures the change against the same month a year earlier, not the price level; because of their own tax regime the islands are historically below the Spanish average.

CANARY ISLANDS · ECONOMY

Zero IGIC ends on 30 September: fuel and gas are taxed again from October — and for firewood the rate is open

Two weeks to go. On 30 September 2026 the zero IGIC rate on petrol, diesel, gas, briquettes, pellets and firewood expires — article 1 of Decreto ley 4/2026 of 29 June (BOC no. 130). On 1 October a rate of 1 per cent takes over for petroleum, refined products and gas; firewood, briquettes and pellets are not in that provision, and the statute did not settle which rate applies to them. Why this matters now comes from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística: in August the Canaries had the steepest fuel inflation of any Spanish autonomous community — 28.7 per cent over twelve months, with the tax at zero.

16 September 2026 · 5 min. · By Martin Kosinski

A filling station in Spain (illustrative)

Photo: 19Tarrestnom65, CC BY-SA 4.0 (illustrative image).

The key figures

Decreto ley 4/2026 (BOC no. 130, 30 June 2026), article 1: zero rate on petroleum, refined products, briquettes and “pellets” from biomass and firewood — “hasta el día 30 de septiembre de 2026”.
Correction in BOC no. 131 of 1 July 2026, per the Agencia Tributaria Canaria: the zero rate runs to 30 September for gas too.
Agencia Tributaria Canaria, 31 August 2026: condition met; through September the zero rate applies, with 55.65 euros (professional petrol) and 46.62 euros (professional diesel) per 1,000 litres.
Decreto ley 3/2026 (BOC no. 66, 7 April 2026), article 2.Dos: from 1 July 2026 article 33 bis imposes a rate of 1 per cent on petroleum, refined products and gas.
INE, consumer price index for August 2026 (15 September 2026): Canaries, special group “Carburantes y combustibles”, +28.7 per cent on the year (July +19.9), +5.8 on the month; Spain +21.3.
Aena, “Acumulado: Agosto de 2026” (provisional): the eight Canary airports 36,314,210 passengers January to August; Spain 225,543,599, +4.1 per cent.

What expires on 30 September — and what returns on 1 October

The zero rate is not a standing rule but a dated exception: article 1 of Decreto ley 4/2026 sets it “hasta el día 30 de septiembre de 2026”. What follows is already on the statute book. Article 2.Dos of Decreto ley 3/2026 rewrote article 33 bis with effect from 1 July 2026 — a rate of 1 per cent on petroleum, refined products and gas. For a tank and a gas bottle that means going from zero to one percentage point.

No extension has been announced: BOC issues 175 to 186, from 1 to 16 September 2026, contain no such decreto ley, and the most recent tax notice from the Agencia Tributaria Canaria, dated 9 September, concerns another matter. Everything has come late so far: Decreto ley 4/2026 on 30 June, the monthly notices on 14 and 31 August. What to watch in the final days of September is the BOC and the “Avisos y novedades” page.

Firewood, briquettes and pellets: the gap nobody closed

The new article 33 bis names petroleum, refined products and gas. Firewood, briquettes and biomass pellets are not there. We read the consolidated statute — Decreto Legislativo 1/2025 of 13 October, version of 7 April 2026: the terms “madera para leña”, “briquetas” and “pellets procedentes de la biomasa” appear in no rate article at all.

That leaves two possibilities, both readable in the text. Article 34.Uno.a) puts products of wood, cork, basketware and plaiting materials in NACE division 16 at the super-reduced rate of 3 per cent; if that does not bite, article 32.1 gives the general rate of 7 per cent. Which applies turns on how the goods are classified, and the statute does not settle that. We could not resolve it — an open question on every pellet invoice. Untouched, by contrast, is the permanent zero-rate list for food, into which article 3 of Decreto ley 3/2026 inserted salt, butter and roasted coffee.

28.7 per cent in a year — with the tax at zero

The INE published the August consumer price index on 15 September. In the special group “Carburantes y combustibles” the Canaries stood at +28.7 per cent against the same month a year earlier, after +19.9 in July; August alone added 5.8 per cent. Spain: +21.3. Only Ceuta is higher at 29.3 per cent — an autonomous city, not a community.

The figure measures exactly what is now expiring: according to INE's document on the composition of the special groups, base 2025, it covers classes 0452 (gas) and 0453 (liquid fuels) plus subclasses 07221 (diesel) and 07222 (petrol) — the gas bottle and household heating fuel as much as the tank. Under “Transporte personal” the INE reports +13.0 per cent for the Canaries against +11.9 nationally.

The trap: lowest inflation does not mean cheapest

The same release carries the line most people quote first: “Cantabria presenta el mayor aumento (5,1%) y Canarias el menor (3,8%)”. Nationally the rate was 4.3 per cent, the highest since February 2023. Two qualifications: the sentence is about the autonomous communities — in INE's chart Ceuta sits below at 2.9 per cent — and the index measures changes in prices, not price levels.

So “+28.7 per cent” does not mean the Canaries sell the dearest fuel in Spain. Historically the opposite holds: because of their own tax regime the islands are among the cheapest parts of the country; the index compares the Canaries with the Canaries of a year ago. The reverse applies too: “lowest inflation” does not mean “cheapest”. On residential rent the INE reports +1.9 per cent against +2.5 nationally.

36.3 million passengers — and a decline Aena does not publish

The backdrop comes from Aena. Its monthly report for August 2026 gives these provisional January-to-August figures: Gran Canaria 10,601,420 (+1.4 per cent), Tenerife South 8,949,415 (−3.3), Lanzarote 5,943,360 (−0.6), Tenerife North 4,921,743 (+3.0), Fuerteventura 4,522,987 (−2.1), La Palma 1,073,454 (+5.2), El Hierro 214,969 (+3.0), La Gomera 86,862 (+0.5). Across Spain: 225,543,599 passengers, +4.1 per cent; Palma +2.2, Ibiza +3.0, Menorca +2.5, Málaga +6.6, Alicante +9.9.

Two things have to be said about that. Aena publishes no Canary aggregate and no regional percentage; the sum of the eight island airports, 36,314,210, and the roughly −0.2 per cent derived from it are our own calculation. And these are passengers, not tourists: by Aena's glossary the count covers everyone embarked or disembarked, so residents, inter-island traffic and transfers are included. No source we checked gives a cause — we do not speculate.

What is worth doing now. First: keep the receipts — the invoice states the IGIC rate charged. Second: if you heat with wood, briquettes or pellets, ask your supplier before 1 October which rate they will invoice from then on; if in doubt, the Agencia Tributaria Canaria can rule. Third: on fuel and gas this is one percentage point of tax, not a price jump.

Four traps. The consumer price index measures change, not price levels: the 28.7 per cent does not mean the Canaries have Spain's dearest fuel — because of their own tax regime they are historically among the cheapest. “Lowest inflation” does not mean “cheapest” either. The roughly −0.2 per cent is our own calculation, and passengers are not tourists. This article is information, not tax or investment advice.

FAQ

When does the new rate on petrol, diesel and gas start?: On 1 October 2026: article 1 of Decreto ley 4/2026 ends the zero rate on 30 September, after which article 33 bis applies at 1 per cent.
What will firewood or pellets carry in tax from October?: That is open. They are not in the new article 33 bis, and the terms appear in no rate article. Possible are 3 per cent under article 34.Uno.a) or 7 per cent under article 32.1. Ask your supplier or the Agencia Tributaria Canaria.
Has an extension been announced?: Not as of 16 September 2026: no such decreto ley in BOC issues 175 to 186, and the Agencia's most recent tax notice, of 9 September, concerns other business.
Is fuel in the Canaries now the most expensive in Spain?: No. The INE measures the change against the same month a year earlier, not the price level; because of their own tax regime the islands are historically below the Spanish average.
Are the 36.3 million passengers tourists?: No. By Aena's glossary the count covers everyone embarked or disembarked, so residents, inter-island traffic and transfers are included. The sum of the eight airports and the roughly −0.2 per cent are our calculation.

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