The price of petrol in South Africa is up to 81c a litre to R20.35, effective from 1 December.
That is what you will pay for 95-octane petrol in Gauteng. Unleaded 93 is 22c per litre cheaper inland.
The various taxes bundled into the petrol price comes to R6.25 per litre. For December, that represents 31% of the pump price for inland 95.
The price of petrol itself, known as the basic fuel price or BFP, is at R9.74, or 48% of the total price at the pump.
The remainder is made up of a dealer margin, now at 11.52% of the total, a further wholesale margin of 2.24%, and charges related to handling and storage.
The taxes are made up of:
1). The general fuel levy, now at 19.3% of the total price
2). The Road Accident Fund levy, now at 10.7% of the total price
3). The Demand Side levy to discourage 95-octane use inland, at 0.5%
4). And customs and excise taxes of 0.2%
Meanwhile, the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE) said the officially-announced price increase had been a mistake and the price increase would actually be 6c less, at 75c per litre.
The difference amounts to some 0.3% of the price. The department said:
Although it is for the very first time that such an error has occurred in the history of basic fuel price determination in South Africa, the DMRE profusely apologises for the inconvenience caused.
But its explanation for what happened doesn’t quite add up. It said:
The 6 cents difference is due to the fact that the adjustment of wages for service station workers had already been implemented in September 2021.
However, its own breakdown of the final petrol price shows that the change in the margin reserved for petrol-station owners makes up only 5.7c of the difference. The other 0.3c came in an adjustment to the basic fuel price (BFP).
More: Business Insider