It won’t be long before 2026 is officially at our doorsteps, and with it, a new set of petrol and diesel price adjustments, courtesy of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). The change won’t be immediate; the new prices take effect on Wednesday, 7 January 2026. That all works in our favour; however, seeing as the CEF’s latest predictions point to a decrease in fuel prices for all motorists come the new year.
Good news, petrol drivers!
Compared to the previous week’s predictions, that’s a big win. The energy company’s early predictions for January 2026 initially foretold a rather large 26c/l increase for petrol drivers, with diesel drivers solely enjoying a 25-30c/l decrease. Oh, how times have changed. While we’re only in the middle of December at the time of writing, the current trends could potentially lead to bigger and better price decreases across the board.
We should mention that the figures below are not final and are subject to change. The CEF (Central Energy Fund) offers daily insights into the coming adjustments by analysing the economic factors that influence the price of fuel. The biggest contributors are the average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate and the price of oil globally.
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The CEF and DMRE work in conjunction to track this data over any given month and to help determine the adjustments accordingly. It doesn’t feel quite so comforting to blame the economy rather than a single government entity, does it? Still, that won’t stop the DMRE from being the de facto punching bag.
As ever, the official adjustments will likely come into effect on Wednesday, 7 January — the first Wednesday of the new month — leaving almost an extra week for prices to swing our way. Should it continue in this fashion, South African motorists may have a sizeable decrease to look forward to in the new year.
Here are the petrol and diesel price predictions (so far) for January 2026:
- Petrol 93: decrease of 10 cents per litre (R0.12)
- Petrol 95: decrease of 12 cents per litre (R0.12)
- Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 88 cents per litre (R0.88)
- Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 95 cents per litre (R0.95)
- Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 63 cents per litre (R0.63)
