{"id":881003,"date":"2026-10-22T15:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=881003"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:05:18","slug":"bad-news-for-petrol-and-diesel-drivers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/881003\/bad-news-for-petrol-and-diesel-drivers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news for petrol and diesel drivers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Energy and Electricity has proposed a new levy system on high-emission cars to finance rebates for lower-emission vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was proposed in the department’s draft National Energy Efficiency Strategy (NEES), which also outlines several other electricity-efficiency reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy involves a “feebate” system, which will pay rebates to low-emission vehicles such as fully electric or hybrid vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These rebates would be funded through a levy imposed on vehicles with above-average emissions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department did not specify the standards for what emissions would place vehicles into each of these categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new feebate system was proposed as the department said South Africa’s current CO\u2082 levy does not incentivise efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The levy must be restructured into a revenue-neutral feebate system paying rebates for efficient vehicles (below-standard emissions), funded by levies on inefficient vehicles (above-standard).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that the new proposed levy and rebate structure should include incentives for fully electric and hybrid vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The feebate structure should be transparent, with annual threshold adjustments reflecting improving fleet average, and should include incentives for new energy vehicles (NEVs) and hybrid technologies,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with the new levy structure, the NEES proposed new mandatory fuel economy standards for light vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It argued that these would help South Africa compete in global markets as many other countries adopt fuel economy regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To sustain competitiveness in international markets, by not being phased out from export markets where fuel efficiency standards exist, SA needs mandatory fuel economy standards,” the NEES said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said a study would be jointly commissioned by the Departments of Energy and Electricity, and Transport, to determine fuel economy standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The DoT and DEE should jointly commission a feasibility\/calibration study, then use its findings to introduce CO\u2082-equivalent fuel-economy standards for light vehicles, aligned with current international norms,” the NEES said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Standards should apply to all new vehicle sales and be progressively tightened every three years based on technology cost analysis, with exemptions for manufacturers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A plan for economic growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The NEES argued that energy-efficiency reforms are an effective means of reducing strain on the national grid and supporting South Africa’s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that South Africa is an energy-intensive country, which struggles with issues such as electricity supply instability and weak growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“South Africa remains one of the more energy-intensive economies globally, with a historic dependence on coal, persistent electricity supply instability, rising energy costs, and weak growth,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Energy efficiency offers one of the fastest and most cost-effective means to reduce demand, ease strain on generation capacity, lower input costs across the economy, and reduce emissions without constraining growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NEES said that, in addition to helping achieve climate objectives, the proposed strategy would aid South Africa’s energy sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The strategy is intended to reduce pressure on the electricity system, improve affordability and competitiveness, strengthen energy security, and support South Africa\u2019s climate and development objectives,” it explained<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is positioned as the national framework for coordinated action across government, regulators, municipalities, state entities, and the private sector.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy is built around five goals, which aim to create a “disciplined national programme” for energy efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five goals are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Strengthen governance through formal adoption of the NEES and an updated action plan, and to recognise energy efficiency as a national planning priority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Establish the enabling regulatory and financing framework required for delivery at scale.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Implement sector-specific interventions across the economy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Build institutional capacity and professional skills.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Establish a credible monitoring, reporting and verification system capable of tracking performance and sustaining accountability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Department of Energy and Electricity has proposed a new levy system on high-emission cars to fund rebates for lower-emission vehicles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":873179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2113255437935972778","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2245478626272536","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18112672013231995","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26905,2552,26904],"class_list":["post-881003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-department-of-energy-and-electricty","tag-department-of-transport","tag-nees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881003","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881003"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881035,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881003\/revisions\/881035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}