South Africans are facing a brutal fuel price increase from Wednesday, September 6.
While this will inevitably also impact general inflation further down the line, your concern for now is how much more that tank is going to cost you.
As a reminder, petrol is set to go up by R1.71 per litre for both grades, and those with diesel vehicles have it even harder with 50ppm increasing by R2.76 and 500ppm by R2.84.
If you drive a bakkie like the Toyota Hilux or a large SUV like the related Fortuner, and assuming you’re putting 70 litres of 50ppm diesel into its 80 litre tank (not playing chicken with the low fuel light in other words) then a refuel is going to cost you an extra R193.20 from Wednesday.
But the increased cost per tank is significant regardless of what you drive. Even putting 32 litres of petrol into a small hatchback like the Suzuki Swift or Toyota Starlet will cost you an additional R54.72, which could have been a hairy garage pie and a coke. For a larger car like a Toyota Corolla or Volkswagen Tiguan, you’re looking at R85 to R90 extra per tank.
To give you a better idea of how much a tank will cost from Wednesday, we’ve compiled the two tables below, one for the coast and the other for inland motorists.
Keep in mind that refuel litres are an estimation based on the assumption that you arrived at the fuel station with at least 5 litres to spare, or 10 litres in the case of the larger bakkies and related SUVs.
And the diesel tank prices are an estimation based on the wholesale prices, plus an assumed retail margin of around R2. Diesel prices do differ between outlets as it’s unregulated, so do shop around.
What petrol and diesel now cost per litre
For the record, a litre of 95 Unleaded petrol will set you back R23.82 per litre at the coast and R24.54 in Gauteng, where the cheaper 93 ULP will cost R24.14.
The wholesale price of 500ppm diesel is set to rise to R22.33 at the coast and R23.05 inland from this month, with 50ppm increasing to R22.58 and R23.29 respectively. This excludes the retail margins, which will likely push actual diesel prices to over R25 in Gauteng.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) says September’s fuel price hikes are primarily as a result of stronger international oil prices, with a weaker rand also playing a small role.
However, the government’s taxation structure, with levies adding R6.14 to every litre of petrol according to the Automobile Association, are not helping in this situation. Perhaps it’s time to consider reintroducing the temporary fuel levy reductions that helped to soften the blow when oil prices surged out of control in early 2022?
Particularly for diesel as these prices will eventually filter through to general inflation.