By Anita Dangazele
- Officials messed up a decimal point and wrongly pushed the official diesel increase up by nearly one rand on Monday.
- Global fuel supplies are shrinking because of the war in Iran and pushing local petrol prices to record high levels.
Drivers are paying a lot more for fuel from Wednesday. Diesel is now over R30 a litre for the first time. Petrol is at its highest price in nearly four years.
A mistake by the government almost made it more expensive. On Monday, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources said wholesale diesel would increase by R6.19 a litre.
Officials made a mistake with a decimal point. They calculated a fuel levy relief increase of 0.93 cents instead of 93 cents. This mistake made the planned diesel price increase nearly one rand higher than it should have been.
An official confirmed the mistake and told fuel stakeholders about it on Tuesday morning. The Central Energy Fund released the correct numbers on Tuesday.
The actual diesel increase is R5.27 a litre. This means wholesale diesel costs R31.18 in Gauteng and R30.30 on the coast.
Petrol goes up by R3.27 a litre on Wednesday. A litre of 95 unleaded petrol costs R26.63 in Gauteng and R25.76 on the coast.
The war in Iran is making fuel more expensive around the world. Brent crude oil prices went up to 101 US dollars over the past month. In January, the price was less than 65 US dollars.
Closed shipping routes and damaged infrastructure are causing a shortage of global fuel supplies.
Drivers also have to pay a large slate levy of R1.23 a litre this month. This levy pays fuel importers when they lose money buying expensive fuel. Drivers pay this when the national slate account drops more than R500 million in the red.
The government plans to cut general fuel levy relief in half in June and end it completely by July.
Pictured above: A fuel truck.
Image source: File
