Fuel hike: petrol to hit more than R20 a litre on Wednesday

Motorists will pay 81c a litre more for petrol and up to 75c more for diesel

From Wednesday it will cost R1,017.50 to fill a 50-litre tank compared to R743 in January. Stock photo.
From Wednesday it will cost R1,017.50 to fill a 50-litre tank compared to R743 in January. Stock photo.
Image: jarun / 123rf

Petrol will cost more than R20/litre for the first time when fuel price hikes are implemented on December 1.

Both grades of petrol (93 and 95) will increase by 81c to bring the retail price of 95 unleaded to R20.35/l and 93 unleaded to 20.13/l in Gauteng. These are new record highs in a year that has seen a series of fuel price hikes, and it will now cost R1,017.50 to fill a 50-litre tank compared to R743 in January, when a litre of 95 unleaded cost R14.86.

The wholesale price of diesel rises 73c/l for high-sulphur fuel and 75c/l for low-sulphur diesel, while illuminating paraffin rises 42.20c/l.

A litre of diesel will cost R17.92 (high-sulphur) and R17.98 (low-sulphur).

The hikes spell misery for motorists who are planning long trips over the upcoming holiday season.

The Central Energy Fund attributed the increases to the rising oil price and the weakened rand during the period under review.

The rand fell to R15.38 against the US dollar for the period October 28 to November 25, compared to R14.81 during the previous period. This led to a higher contribution to the basic fuel prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 35.34c, 34.44c and 34.11c per litre respectively.

In addition, the minister of mineral resources and energy has approved a net increase of 17.84c/l in the annual margin adjustments on petrol and a net increase of 8.20c/l on diesel and illuminating paraffin wholesale prices.

A Slate Levy of 41.66c/l (an increase of 26.3c/l) is being implemented for petrol and diesel with effect from December 1. This is in line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, which saw the combined cumulative petrol and diesel slate balances at the end of October amounting to a negative balance of R4.689bn.

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