If you were thinking South Africa was going to take a break from the seemingly unstoppable petrol price increases, think again. July is looking to hit us with another large increase, at least according to the mid-month stats from the Central Energy Fund.

The data captured on 14 June tells us that we could have a R2.03 increase for petrol, while diesel prices are showing signs of an under recovery of R1.28.

The mid-month snapshot is as follows:

Petrol 95: increase of 203 cents per litre;
Petrol 93: increase of 186 cents per litre;
Diesel 0.05%: under-recovery of 128 cents per litre;
Diesel 0.005%: under-recovery of 128 cents per litre;
Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 153 cents per litre.

The worst is yet to come

The Department of Energy wants to make sure we know these snapshots are not a true representation of the final numbers. These snapshots don’t cover other factors such as slate levy adjustments and retail margin changes. These are only finalized at the end of the month by the Department of Energy.

Once the end of the month draws close, the Department will take all the changing factors into consideration, which could alter the prices significantly one way or another.

While these numbers cannot be trusted fully, we can look at past months to see that an increase of this magnitude is something the Department could implement at the drop of a hat. Just this year alone, South Africans have faced a 20% increase on petrol. And the worst part is, prices are going to continue rising.

At the moment, South Africa has a tax break on fuel. That little ‘holiday’ will be coming to end in August. The tax break was meant to end a few months ago, before the government heard the people’s pleas to extend it. And extend the tax break they did. Kind of.