By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has published the official fuel price adjustments that will take effect on Wednesday, 1 January 2025.
The price of 93-octane petrol will increase by 19 cents per litre, while 95-octane petrol will be hiked by 12 cents per litre.
Diesel (0.05% sulphur) will cost 7.50 c/l more, while 0.005% sulphur diesel will be 10.50 c/l dearer.
Meanwhile, the wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will fall by 9.50 c/l.
When the fuel price increase kicks in, a litre of 95 unleaded petrol will cost R21.59 per litre, while 93 Unleaded will retail at R21.34.
The wholesale price of 0.05% diesel will increase to R19.29 per litre, and 0.005% will cost R19.44.
The modest rise was caused by a fall in the rand/dollar exchange rate and a very slight increase in the average Brent Crude oil price during the period under review.
As per the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, the Slate Levy on petrol and diesel will remain at 0.00 c/l with effect from 01 January 2025.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) said that average international product prices for Petrol increased, whilst Diesel and Illuminating Paraffin decreased during the period under review.
On average, the rand depreciated against the US Dollar during the period under review, when compared to the previous period, with the average ZAR/USD exchange rate for the period being 18.1120 compared to 17.9256 during the previous period.
This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 10.58 c/l, 11.11 c/l, and 10.90 c/l respectively,” said the CEF.