Johannesburg - After a few months of relief, South African fuel prices are moving in the wrong direction once again, but thankfully a decrease in the Slate Levy has softened the blow for February.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced that from Wednesday, February 1, the price of both grades of petrol will increase by 28 cents per litre. 500ppm diesel, the dirtier grade, will see an increase of 9 cents per litre, while 50ppm low-sulphur diesel will decrease by 1 cent.
A litre of 95 Unleaded petrol now costs R21.03 at the coast and R21.68 in the inland regions, where 93 Unleaded now retails at R21.38. The wholesale price of 50ppm diesel is now R20.77 at the coast and R21.41 inland, while 500ppm costs R20.67 and R21.32 in the respective regions, although as diesel is unregulated the varying retail prices will be higher than that.
If you drive a small car like a Kia Picanto, putting 30 litres of 93 Unleaded into its 35 litre tank will cost you R8.40 more than it did in January. Refilling a Volkswagen Polo or similar with 35 litres will set you back an additional R9.80, while a 50 litres in a midsize vehicle like a Toyota Corolla or Rav4 will come with a R14 penalty versus last month.
If you’re driving a diesel-powered bakkie or large SUV, the impact will be minimal of course, with a 75 litre refill of 500ppm costing just R6.75 more.
Rand, Slate Levy soften the blow
While unaudited fuel data released later in the month had pointed towards a petrol price increase in the region of 70 cents, the Slate Levy that gets imposed on fuel prices has softened the blow. This month it has been lowered by 43 cents to a total of 17.5 cents.
The Slate Levy was designed to reimburse fuel companies for the imbalances resulting from the oil price fluctuations that took place during preceding month that determined the current fuel price.
International oil prices were significantly higher in January and if that had been the only factor determining the fuel price then petrol and diesel would have seen respective increases of around 87 cents and 71 cents. Thankfully the rand played in our favour, softening the blow by 15 cents in the case of petrol and 19 cents for diesel.
Although February’s fuel price increases were lower than expected, fuel prices are still historically very high in South Africa, considering that a litre of 95 Unleaded at the coast still costs R2.14 more than it did at the beginning of 2022 and a whopping R6.87 more than it cost in January 2021.
“Any increases to fuel prices now, at a time when South Africans are grappling with, among other issues, financial pressures and rolling blackouts is unwelcome,” the Automobile Association said.
“We again want to urge the government to revisit the fuel pricing structure with a view to finding ways to mitigate against this and other possible increases in future.”