How much more you will pay for a tank of petrol from today
Fuel price increases the Central Energy Fund announced on Friday have kicked in today, bringing the inland petrol price to over R21 per litre.
From Wednesday, 2 March 2022, the price of both grades of unleaded petrol increased by R1.46 per litre.
The price of 500ppm diesel increased by R1.44 per litre, and 50ppm diesel rose by R1.48.
In addition, the energy department also hiked the price of illuminating paraffin by R1.21 per litre.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy explained that several factors have caused fuel prices to rise sharply.
While the rand strengthened slightly against the US dollar between February and March, the average Brent Crude oil price increased from $93.00 to $96.47.
The main contributing factors to this rise were threefold:
- The escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine led to a surge in crude oil prices amid supply fears.
- Sanctions on Russia by the UK, US, and Europe have contributed to increasing crude oil prices.
- The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Non-OPEC members are still not meeting agreed production targets, leading to lower crude oil supplies and an increase in prices.
The increase in crude oil prices drove up international refined petroleum product prices.
“This led to higher contributions to the Basic Fuel Price of petrol 95 and 93 by 149.66c/l and 148.11c/l respectively, diesel 50ppm and 500ppm by 148.65c/l and 151.90c/l respectively, and illuminating paraffin by 140.26 cents per litre.”
The impact of these changes on the petrol price is summarised in the table below.
| Fuel price changes | ||
|---|---|---|
| February 2022 | March 2022 | |
| Inland | ||
| 93 Unleaded | R19.89 | R21.35 |
| 95 Unleaded | R20.14 | R21.60 |
| Coast | ||
| 93 Unleaded | R19.37 | R20.83 |
| 95 Unleaded | R19.42 | R20.35 |
While rising oil prices are the reason for this significant increase, much of the price South Africans pay at the pumps is due to various taxes levied on fuel.
Some good news is that finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced during his 2022 budget speech that the general fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy would not increase in the 2022/23 financial year.
His announcement was in line with suggestions from industry associations and civil action groups like Outa.
In addition, Godongwana also revealed that he was discussing a full review of South Africa’s petrol price with energy minister Gwede Mantashe.
“The intention is to make sure that we can have a petrol price which is competitive with this economy.”
However, while the taxes on fuel may not have increased, they remain high.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has explained that the combined levies on motorists have risen by 126% in ten years, while the basic fuel price increased by much less.
As a result, South Africans have gone from paying around 42% taxes on petrol to over 50%.
The following table shows how much more you will pay inland to fill up your car’s tank petrol from today.
| Price to fill up typical vehicle tanks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tank size | February 2022 | March 2022 | Increase |
| 93 unleaded (inland) | |||
| 45 litres | R895.05 | R960.75 | R65.70 |
| 60 litres | R1,193.40 | R1,281.00 | R87.60 |
| 80 litres | R1,591.20 | R1,708.00 | R116.80 |
| 95 unleaded (inland) | |||
| 45 litres | R906.30 | R972.00 | R65.70 |
| 60 litres | R1,208.40 | R1,296.00 | R87.60 |
| 80 litres | R1,611.20 | R1,728.00 | R116.80 |
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