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Cape Town – The price of petrol will increase by 67c a litre from next Wednesday, while the price of diesel will be 44c a litre more, the Department of Energy said on Sunday.
Energy Minister Mamoloko Kubayi said the rand/US dollar exchange rate and the prices of petroleum products in the international markets are the main contributing factors for the September price hike.
“The Rand depreciated, on average, against the US dollar during the period under review.”
In addition, there was an increase in the crude oil prices coupled with a weaker rand, massive floods caused by the storm which forced several refineries to close along the US Gulf Coast, and Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, caused large-scale flooding and forced closure of Houston port and several refineries.
"These resulted in the supply shortage in the market which led to higher prices of petroleum products," the Department said.
The increase was also partly as a result of an increase in the retail margin of petrol of 4.6c per litre to cater for an 8% salary increase for pump attendants, 7% for cashiers and 7.5% for other administration staff in line with the Motor Industry Bargaining Council (MIBCO) agreement of 18 November 2016. This money must be ring-fenced for the wage increases, the Department said.
Apart from the price increases in petrol and diesel, the price of illuminating paraffin will go up by 49c per litre. The price of illuminating paraffin will increase by 65c per litre in the Single Maximum National Retail price, while the maximum retail price for LPGAS will go up by 86 cents per kilogram in the maximum retail price.
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