We’re less than a week away from the first Wednesday of October, and things couldn’t be looking better for South Africans. Load shedding has taken an indefinite sabbatical, Comic Con Africa kicks off today, and the country’s petrol and diesel prices are set to go down a whole R1 (and more, in some cases) next week.

That’s if the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) latest predictions (captured Tuesday, 24 September) prove accurate, that is. Fortunately, in the many years we’ve kept an eye on the country’s ever-changing fuel prices, the CEF has proven itself to be a reliable resource. In other words, we’d advise some mild excitement heading into Wednesday, 2 October.

Think about all the petrol gains

See, the country’s fuel prices aren’t decided by the CEF. That’s a job for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy – which looks at all the pertinent data at the end of any given month to determine the adjustments to the fuel pumps. The CEF, however, reports its daily findings to the Department to help it make an informed decision.

The CEF, specifically, keeps an eye on the current Rand/US Dollar exchange rate and the price of refined oil, globally. These are the two biggest economic factors taken into consideration when it comes to fuel prices in South Africa, with a stronger Rand and cheaper oil prices lending themselves to cheaper petrol and diesel pump prices.

It’s worth mentioning that the CEF’s figures (below) are not indicative of the official price change, due Wednesday 2 October. They are nothing more than (fairly accurate) predictions to give South African residents an idea of what to expect each month. With less than a week to go before the changeover, you can expect the official changes to look something like the numbers below.