R1+ price hike confirmed for SA's fuel pumps this February

Anyone hoping for even a slight reprieve at South Africa’s fuel pumps this February will want to shut their eyes immediately and head to the nearest petrol station as soon as physically possible (with your eyes open, we hope). The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has published the official fuel price adjustments for February 2025 and, as expected, they’re not what we’d call pretty.

As is tradition, the new prices won’t hit South Africa’s pumps until the first Wednesday of the new month, falling on 5 February. That leaves South Africans plenty of time to get their affairs (and fuel) in order ahead of the incoming hike, which will see diesel drivers paying up to R1 more per litre than they did throughout January. We told you they weren’t pretty.

Fingers crossed for March

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) has predicted the massive hike for several weeks now, keeping an eye on the two largest economic factors that influence the price of fuel locally. Those are the current prices of unrefined oil globally, on top of the current Rand/US Dollar exchange rate. Another factor affecting the official price is the DMRE’s Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, which will remain at R0.00 this month.

“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 27 December 2024 to 30 January 2025 was 18.7343 compared to 18.1120 during the previous period. This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 36.85 c/l, 39.58 c/l, and 38.61 c/l respectively.”