As of midnight tonight, the cost of a litre of fuel will shoot up by between 81 cents a litre and 98 cents a litre, depending on the fuel you use.
According to the Automobile Association (AA), 95 petrol will increase by 88 cents per litre; while 93 will go up by between 81cents and 86 cents per litre; and the two diesel fuels will increase by either 96 cents or 98 cents per litre.
AA spokesperson, Layton Beard said the cost of a litre of 93 unleaded petrol inland is now R12.32 (up from R11.46), and R11.94 at the coast (up from R11.13).
“The 30 cents per litre increase to the fuel levy, announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan during his budget speech in February, has been added to all of the price adjustments. This additional 30 cents per litre has moved the fuel levy – a tax collected on every litre of fuel sold – from R2.55 to R2.85 a litre. The money collected through the fuel levy is administered by the National Treasury, and is treated as a general tax, not, as many people assume, only for road-related expenses,” Beard said.
He added that for many, the fuel price is merely a number on a pump that they need to pay when filling their tank. But the cost of this essential commodity is much more than that.
Beard explained, “It is made up of many different costs that, together, constitute what is commonly referred to as the petrol price. In South Africa, this price is adjusted monthly based on a number of factors, mainly international petroleum prices, and the SA rand/US dollar exchange rate.”
The basic fuel price (BFP) is calculated based on costs associated with shipping petroleum products to South Africa from the Mediterranean area, Arab Gulf, and Singapore. These costs include insurance, storage, wharfage and the cost to use harbour facilities when off-loading petroleum products into storage facilities. In April, these costs total R5.26 per litre for 93 unleaded petrol (inland), and R5.21 for a litre of 93 unleaded at the coast.
Beard said other costs associated with the petrol price include transport costs (from the harbour to other areas), customs and excise duties, the retail margins paid to fuel station owners, and secondary storage costs. Importantly, these other costs also include the fuel levy, and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy.
In their statement, AA said that currently these other costs total R7.06 for inland users, and R6.73 for coastal users per litre of 93 unleaded petrol. Of this, a revised figure of R2.85 is allocated to the fuel levy, and R1.54 to RAF levy.
The fuel levy goes directly to the National Treasury, while the RAF levy goes to the Road Accident Fund, and is used to care for victims of car crashes. “This means that for every inland litre of petrol costing R12.32, R4.39 (35 percent) is allocated to different government levies. For every litre of coastal petrol costing R11.94, close to 37 percent is allocated to the levies,” he said.
Filling a 50-litre tank with 93 unleaded petrol inland will cost R616.00. Of this, R142.50 goes directly to the fuel levy with a further R77 going to the RAF. Filling a 50-litre tank with 93 unleaded petrol at the coast will cost R597.00. Of this, R142.50 goes directly to the fuel levy with a further R77 going to the RAF.
