Despite already being five days into December, South Africa is still awaiting the country’s official fuel price changes – set to change this Wednesday, 7 December. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on the prices before the Department of Energy makes December’s fuel prices official.
It’s been a month of ups and downs in terms of petrol price predictions. At the start of the month, SA was bracing for increases of R1.50 for petrol and R0.55 for diesel. Thankfully, much has changed since. As it stands, petrol drivers are set to be slightly disappointed, and diesel drivers will likely be over the moon come Wednesday. That is if the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) predictions hold true until then.
To fill up or not to fill up
The CEF’s predictions are based on factors such as the current Rand/Dollar exchange, and the price of refined oil at the time of the price change. These predictions were made last week on 1 December. This means that by the time the official changes are announced, the real fuel prices could look even better than they do now. We can hope.
Keep in mind, these numbers are just that: predictions. The CEF’s numbers don’t have any bearing on the official changes decided by the Department of Energy.
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Here are the fuel price predictions for December:
- Petrol 95: increase of 24 cents per litre (R0.24)
- Petrol 93: increase of 16 cents per litre (R0.16)
- Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 171 cents per litre (R1.71)
- Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 166 cents per litre (R1.66)
- Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 58 cents per litre (R0.58)
As you can see, petrol drivers will probably be heading to the pumps on Tuesday evening before the changes come into effect at midnight. Diesel drivers on the other hand take up all the spaces at stations on Wednesday morning, if all goes to plan. Plan your fill-ups accordingly.
Source: Central Energy Fund