Do you remember Stuff’s last February petrol and diesel price prediction? We signed off rather hopeful that there wouldn’t be any way for anything to drastically change the upcoming petrol and diesel prices.

Well… we’ve learned a valuable lesson about underestimating South Africa. According to data captured by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) on 20 January, the country was expecting an increase of around 25c/l in the petrol department and a 5c/l increase for diesel drivers. New data from the CEF has surfaced – captured on 25 January – slating the country for an increase of double what was predicted earlier this week.

Final warning: Get your petrol before Wednesday, 1 February

As ever, these numbers aren’t the official numbers we’ll see at the petrol stations come 1 February. These are the CEF’s own predictions, based on the country’s current US Dollar/Rand exchange, and the current price of refined oil. The official fuel price changes are decided by the Department of Energy (DoE) with all mitigating factors taken in.

Let’s stop prolonging the pain and get to the “official” fuel price predictions for the month of February:

Petrol 95: increase of 52 cents per litre (R0.52)
Petrol 93: increase of 57 cents per litre (R0.57)
Diesel 0.05%: increase of 32 cents per litre (R0.32)
Diesel 0.005%: increase of 22 cents per litre (R0.22)
Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 38 cents per litre (R0.38)

And the worst part? There are still four days (five, if you include today) until the DoE makes the changes official. There’s still time for this to turn around, though chances are rather slim. The more likely outcome is that the numbers will only get worse before the change-up on Wednesday, 1 February.

Source: Central Energy Fund