{"id":811273,"date":"2025-02-16T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=811273"},"modified":"2025-02-14T18:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T16:10:16","slug":"over-r1200-petrol-price-pain-for-south-africans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/811273\/over-r1200-petrol-price-pain-for-south-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"Over R1,200 petrol price pain for South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South African motorists filling up their tanks in 2025 are paying a staggering R1,226 more than they would have in 1995, highlighting the relentless rise in fuel prices over the past 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/809891\/here-is-the-official-petrol-price-for-february-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">latest petrol price<\/a><\/strong> adjustments saw an increase of 82 cents per litre for both 93 and 95 unleaded petrol in February 2025, while diesel prices rose between R1.01 and R1.05 per litre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, the inland price of 93 unleaded petrol now stands at R22.16 per litre, up from R21.34 in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put this into perspective, data from Stats SA shows that in 1995, inland motorists paid just R1.86 per litre for 93 unleaded petrol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This represents a price increase of R20.30 per litre or a staggering 1,091.4% over 30 years\u2014almost three times the inflation rate of 416% over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another major factor driving the high cost of fuel is taxation. For much of the last two decades, South African motorists have endured fuel <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/757249\/how-petrol-and-diesel-taxes-have-shot-up-in-south-africa-2000-to-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tax hikes far exceeding inflation<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, nearly a third of every litre of petrol purchased goes toward government levies, with the fuel tax accounting for roughly 18% and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy making up around 10% of the total price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since January 2000, fuel tax contributions have surged by 335.98% for petrol users and 400.66% for diesel users. RAF contributions have seen even steeper hikes, increasing by over 1,400% for petrol and an astonishing 2,016% for diesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa\u2019s regulated fuel prices are determined by a mix of external and internal factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>External factors<\/strong> include the international price of oil, the US dollar to the rand exchange rate, and additional costs like insurance, storage, and transportation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Internal factors<\/strong> encompass local retail and oil company marketing margins, transport costs, and government-imposed taxes and levies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In early 2025, rising global petrol prices and a weakening rand combined to cause an under-recovery, leading to higher prices at the pumps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The February increase marks the fourth consecutive month of petrol price hikes and the second for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking ahead, early indicators for March 2025 suggest further pain at the pumps, with under-recoveries ranging between 29 and 40 cents per litre for petrol and 19 to 27 cents per litre for diesel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although global oil prices dipped in the past week, they remain higher than the low levels seen at the start of the year, keeping fuel costs elevated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How much motorists are paying per tank of petrol: 1995 vs 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/fuel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/fuel-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-646995\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/fuel-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/fuel-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/fuel-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/fuel.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To illustrate just how much petrol prices have climbed, BusinessTech calculated the cost of filling an average tank in 1995 versus 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The average tank size was derived from South Africa\u2019s top-selling cars and bakkies in 2024, which range from 37 litres (Suzuki Swift, Toyota Starlet) to 80 litres (Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger), with a weighted average of 60.4 litres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>1995:<\/strong> Filling a 60.4-litre tank with 93 unleaded petrol cost motorists R112.34.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>2025:<\/strong> The same tank now costs R1,338, an increase of R1,226 over 30 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, when adjusting for inflation (416%), the petrol price should be around R9.60 per litre, translating to R579.84 per tank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This means South Africans are effectively paying R646 more per tank than they would be if petrol prices had merely tracked inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These estimates are based on the official February 2025 inland petrol price of R22.16 per litre for 93 unleaded, considering that only 87-octane and 93-octane fuel were available in 1995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South African motorists filling up with 93 unleaded petrol are paying R1,226 more than they would have in 1995. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":811083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[20263,3994,20264,853,1809],"class_list":["post-811273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-general-fuel-levy-gfl","tag-petrol","tag-road-accident-fund-raf","tag-south-africa","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811273"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811850,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811273\/revisions\/811850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}