With the literal New Year around the corner – which, incidentally, happens to fall on a Wednesday – the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has officially published the fuel price adjustments for January 2025 in South Africa. And… they’re not the best. But you already knew that, didn’t you?

The Central Energy Fund (CEF), a state-owned energy company reporting directly to the DMRE, has predicted the increase throughout December, and now the DMRE has finally swung the axe. Those new prices, listed below, will come into effect at SA’s pumps at midnight on Wednesday, 1 January 2025. We’d advise heading down to the nearest garage while you can still afford it.

Start running. Now.

It’s worth mentioning that the DMRE has no say in the country’s official fuel price adjustments. Instead, the CEF keeps track of the two largest economic factors throughout any given month to help the DMRE determine the pending changes. These are the current Rand/US Dollar exchange rate, and the price of unrefined oil globally.

According to the DMRE, “The average international product prices for Petrol increased, whilst Diesel and Illuminating Paraffin decreased during the period under review. The Rand depreciated against the US Dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared to the previous period. The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate for the period 29 November 2024 to 26 December 2024 was 18.1120 compared to 17.9256 during the previous period. This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 10.58 c/l, 11.11 c/l, 10.90 c/l respectively.”

he one aspect the DRME can control is the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, which will remain at R0.00c/l throughout January 2025.