Graham DownsApr 1

In case you missed it, here are the fuel prices in South Africa (inland) from today:

- 93 Petrol: R23.25 (from R20.19 yesterday)
- 95 Petrol: R23.36 (from R20.30 yesterday)
- Diesel 0.05% (wholesale): R25.90 (from R18.53 yesterday)
- Diesel 0.005% (wholesale): R26.11 (from R18.60 yesterday)
- Illuminating Paraffin: R28.14 (from R12.54 yesterday)
- LPGAS (per kg): R36.05 (from R34.97 yesterday)

#SouthAfrica #FuelPrice

Show threadLeon Cowle

@GrahamDowns Filled up today at $3.39/gal, which equals roughly R15.29/l. And that’s quite high by our recent averages, which were around R10/l to R11/l pre Orange Shitgibbon’s war. Hard sigh.

(Very grateful that Mrs Wife has an EV as she’s the one that commutes. AND doubly grateful that her workplace offers free charging! Can’t wait to join her in EV land.)

Apr 1 at 5:45amWeb
Show threadGraham DownsApr 1

@leoncowle We're very lucky that the petrol price at the pump is regulated here, meaning we've been protected from high petrol prices for the whole of March (As opposed to Diesel, whose *wholesale* price is regulated, but the filling stations can still charge what they like at the pump).

We were expecting a much higher increase from April, but the government decided at the 11th hour last night that they would drop the fuel levy by R3 per litre for the month of April, to shield us. But of course, now all the other political parties are jumping in to say that, while they appreciate that, they don't know how we're going to absorb that cost because we can't afford any more taxes. So it's a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." :/

Show threadLeon CowleApr 1
@GrahamDowns Oh I strongly disagree that petrol price regulation is a good thing in any way. 😂😉 Deregulated prices will come down much faster than regulated ones (once this shit’s over) — and with regulated ones, there is a very real temptation by the powers-that-be to not reduce it *quite* all the way, and keep some of that sweet sweet extra revenue. Something competition in a deregulated market makes a bit more difficult (not impossible, but more unlikely). Also, prices here fluctuate daily so you can time when you fill up and save. AND companies can (and do!) run promotions to lower prices eg with rewards programs, or if you shop at the supermarket then you get money off at the pump, etc. And eg Costco is always by far the cheapest because they operate on volume, not per-gal margin. Competition in this space is awesome. Even have apps that give us the prices at all pumps in the area, so you can price shop.
Show threadGraham DownsApr 1

@leoncowle Yeah, I can see that. In *this* case it was lucky, but I can understand all your points.

Here, the main "competition" happens inside the shops, which every petrol station has. Typically, pretty much everything is more expensive at the petrol station than it would be in a supermarket (you pay for the convenience, because they're open 24/7), but occasionally they run stupid promotions, because obviously, most people are going to fill up at the same time as they go to the shops. :-)