Johannesburg - South African motorists and commuters are facing a full blown crisis, with both petrol and diesel set to go up by a massive margin in December, pushing the petrol price past R20 per litre for the first time ever.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, both grades of petrol will go up by 81 cents per litre from Wednesday, December 01, while 50ppm diesel will increase by 74 cents and 500ppm by 72 cents. Illuminating paraffin will rise by 42 c/l.
The December fuel price adjustment will see the cost of 95 Unleaded Petrol rising to R19.63 per litre at the coast and R20.35 in the inland regions, where 93 Unleaded will rise to R20.13.
The wholesale price of diesel will increase to R17.30 at the coast and R17.92 in Gauteng, keeping in mind that the unregulated retail prices (which vary between outlets) will be somewhat higher than that.
What’s driving the prices higher?
The price of Brent Crude oil increased marginally during the month of October, from an average of $82.50 per barrel to $83.00. This alone would not have made a big difference to the December fuel price, however, the rand depreciated from an average of R14.72 in the previous month to R15.85 this month, the energy department said. The Slate Levy, which is used to compensate the industry for cumulative under recovery, also saw an increase of 26.30 c/l.
Fuel taxes and levies currently account for R6.11 per litre of fuel, a fact which is proving increasingly controversial as higher oil prices and a weak rand drive prices up on a monthly basis.