Petrol prices could be going down for the first time in months

It’s that time of the month again, folks. That sometimes wonderful, often saddening time, when the Central Energy Fund drops the mid-month stats for petrol prices in South Africa. This time, it seems like we’ll be enjoying the former, rather than the latter. If all goes as expected, there could be a drop in petrol prices, even if only a slight one. We’ll take what we can get at this point.

In total, the stats show that we could be looking at a drop of as much as R1.08 for petrol, and 94 cents for diesel. But don’t get too excited yet. The mid-month stats only cover information up until the 14th of this month, meaning plenty can happen before the month ends. Like the ending of that ‘tax relief’ we’ve all been enjoying. That’s bound to make a difference as well.

The Stats

The mid-month snapshot from the Central Energy Fund tells us:

Petrol 93: Decrease – 108c /litre
Petrol 95: Decrease – 98c /litre
Diesel 0.05%: Decrease – 92c /litre
Diesel 0.005%: Decrease – 94c /litre
Illuminating Paraffin: Decrease – 95c /litre

That’s the good news. But the Department of Energy wants to make sure that we all know that these stats are not a true account of next month’s petrol costs. At the end of the month, the Department of Energy takes into account things like levy adjustments, and retail margin changes – which the mid-month stats do not. Even so, that doesn’t stop us from being hopeful, right?

And perhaps, the saddest news of all – the ‘tax relief’ the government put in place to keep riots from breaking out, is coming to an end. Over the past few months, the general fuel levy has kept prices from getting out of hand, even more so than it already has. Come August, the 75c reduction will be added back onto the price.

This makes those decreases we mentioned above look like a lot less. After the general fuel levy is gone, the reduction looks to be closer to 20/30c rather than the full rand we were hoping for. Still, a reduction is a reduction at the end of the day. It’s better than nothing.

Better than Nothing

The tables below combine the expected prices with the 75c addition we know will be hitting us in August. Here, we can get a good idea of what to expect in two weeks.