South Africans will be shelling out substantially more for fuel ahead of the Easter weekend.
The Deprtment of Energy said today that the price of 95 Octate fuel in Gauteng will increase by 71c a litre and 66c a litre in coastal areas.
The price of 93 Octane petrol will go up by 73c a litre in Gauteng and up 68c a litre in coastal areas.
All grades of diesel will go up by between 47 and 61 cents a litre while paraffin will increase by a maximum of 26 cents a litre, while the maximum retail prices will increase by 32 cents a litre country-wide.
The Energy Department's Robert Maake, says the price hikes include the fuel levy 20 cents a litre as well as the levy for the Road Accident Fund of eight cents a litre announced by government in February.
Maake says the price hikes also include the pipeline tariffs announced recently by the National Energy Regulator and the Pipeline tariff as determined by the Road Freight Association.
"On the basic fuel price side we have seen that there's been an increase in the crude oil price. The crude price has gone up on average compared to the previous period and also if you look at the finished product on the international market the price has also gone up," he said.
However, Maake said the Rand strengthened against the dollar "and that helped us by cushioning the prices by around five cents a litre, so if the Rand did not strengthen we could have seen an additional five cents a litre added to the current fuel price."
