Government miscalculates fuel price hike

Motorists still feel the petrol price hike, although not as much after an announcement of miscalculation by energy department.

The department announced fuel price changes based on status quo factors and their commence on Wednesday, 01 December 2021.

The mistake that shocked the nation stated that petrol had increased by 81c per litre. Energy department, however, corrected the error at the last minute.

At the start of November, petrol price increased by R1.21 and diesel hiked by R1.48. This became one of the factors that frustrated motorists.

Department’s media liason, Thandiwe Maimane, says the department overstated the new price by 6 cents.

“We overstated petrol price by 6 cents. The price hike has just been adjusted to 75 cents and not 81 cents as initially announced,” said Maimane.

The decision to raise fuel prices came as a result of USD/ZAR’s exchange rate contribution; industry margins; yearly adjustments; crude oil price increase; and the slave levy implementation.

Yesterday, as the department announced the spiky increase, motorists flogged to fuel stations in an attempt to fill-up their vehicles before the increase took effect.

This mistake marked the first time in South Africa’s history of basic fuel determination that such an error occurred. Mineral Resources and Energy Department apologised for the error and any inconveniences caused.

They further stated the 6 cents difference came from the fact that “wage adjustments for service station workers had already stood from September 2021.”

After further analysis, other fuel prices are concluded to be correct.

Diesel went up 72.5 cents a litre (0.05% sulphur) and 74.5 cents (0.005%).

Illuminating paraffin went up by 42.2 cents a litre, and maximum LPGas retail price increase by 183.00 cents per kg.

Petrol price will remain above R20 per litre in Free State and other inland provinces, despite miscalculation.