Petrol exceeds R20/l for first time

The department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE) had to issue a hasty correction on Wednesday after admitting that there had been a mistake in calculating the increased fuel price.

The original announcement said that the price of petrol would increase by 81c/l.

However, the department said this was higher than the actual increase, which was 75c/l.

“The department of mineral resources and energy regrets to announce that the adjustment of petrol price announced on November 29 was erroneous,” the DMRE said in a statement.

“The 6c difference is due to the fact that the adjustment of wages for service station workers had already been implemented in September 2021.

“Although it is the first time such an error has occurred in the history of basic fuel price determination in SA, the DMRE profusely apologises for the inconvenience caused.”

This will be of little comfort to consumers, with petrol prices cracking the dreaded R20/l mark for the first time after what seems like a year of regular price hikes.

From Wednesday December 1, 93 unleaded and 95 grade petrol now costs R20.07 and R20.29 a litre respectively.

High-sulphur diesel increased by 73c/l, low-sulphur by 75c/l, making their respective per-litre costs R17.92 and R17.98.

Illuminating parrafin rose by 42.20c/l.

According to the Central Energy Fund, the reasons for the increases were the rising oil price and a weakened rand.

Between October 28 and November 25, the rand fell to R15.58 against the US dollar, nearly a rand lower than the previous period reviewed.

Energy minister Gwede Mantashe has also approved a 17.84c/l net increase in the annual margin adjustments on petrol as well as an increase of 8.20c/l on diesel and illuminating paraffin.

December 1 also saw the introduction of a Slate Levy of 41.66c/l being imposed on petrol and diesel.

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