More fuel price woes for motorists
JOBURG – The Department of Energy has urged motorists and consumers not to panic after the ministry announced that fuel prices will increase on 1 April.
The statement released by the department informed the public of a petrol, diesel, illuminating paraffin and liquefied petroleum gas price adjustment for April. The department’s spokesperson Zodwa Batyashe said South Africa’s fuel prices were adjusted on a monthly basis, and are informed by international and local factors.
Batyashe said international factors include the fact that South Africa imports both crude oil and finished products at a price set overseas, including shipping costs.
“The reasons for the fuel price increases in April are the increase in fuel levies and the Road Accident Fund levy as determined annually by the minister of finance, the increase in the transportation costs as determined by the National Energy Regulator, and the Road Freight Association,” Batyashe said.
This will result in different prices for different areas.
The average increase in the price of petroleum products in the international markets is 65c per litre for petrol and 31c per litre for diesel. One reason cited is the depreciation of the rand against the US dollar during the period under review when compared to the previous one.
Batyashe said it should be noted that the price of petrol (ULP 95) in Gauteng will cost approximately R12.89 per litre compared to R14.39 in April last year. The price of petrol had decreased by R4.02 from July last year until February this year, and taking the current increase into account, a litre of petrol is still R1.50 cheaper than it was in April last year.
“There is no need to panic at this stage. Crude oil price fluctuations are not expected to be excessive if major geopolitical conflicts are excluded,” said Batyashe.
Based on current local and international factors, the fuel prices for April 2015 in Gauteng will be adjusted as follows, diesel will increase by R1.24 per litre. Petrol will increase by R1.62 per litre. Meanwhile, illuminating paraffin will increase by 36c per litre and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will increase by 85c per kilogramme.
“In other fuel pricing zones, the prices will be different due to the adjustment to the transportation costs. The pricing schedule for the different zones will be published on 31 March,” Batyashe concluded.
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