Fleet owners and motorists will fork out slightly less to fill up their vehicles when the price of fuel drops on Wednesday, 7 August.
On Monday, the Department of Minerals and Petroleum Resources announced price decreases for all grades of fuel.
The price of petrol 93 (ULP and LRP) and petrol 95 (ULP and LRP) will drop by 15 cents/litre and the price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) and diesel (0.005% sulphur) will decrease by 28 cents/litre and 17 cents/lire respectively, while the wholesale price of illuminating paraffin (wholesale) will drop by 22 cents/litre.
The single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin will decrease by 29 cents/litre and the maximum retail price of LP gas will drop by 14 cents/kilogram.
According to the AA, consumers filling a 55-litre tank with 95ULP inland will save just over R7, and R4.95 if they fill up with ULP93.
“Naturally, we are all looking at ways to manage expenses, and as fuel remains an integral part of many budgets, it’s difficult to avoid paying higher prices. Our advice is to ensure vehicles are in good mechanical condition, and that tyres are inflated according to manufacturers’ specifications,” said the AA.
The department said in a statement that several international and local factors had influenced the drop in prices, including a decrease in Brent Crude oil prices during the period under review.
“The average international product prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased during the period under review. The rand appreciated against the US dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared with the previous period.”
This led to a lower contribution to the basic fuel prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin of 13.86c/l, 13.80c/l and 14.01c/l respectively.