The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has confirmed that petrol prices will increase by R3.27 per litre from Wednesday 6 May 2026, pushing 95 Octane Unleaded to R26.63 per litre in Gauteng and R25.76 per litre at the Coast, in what is a larger increase than most market forecasts indicated.
The confirmed figure is significantly above the R2.09 per litre that pre-announcement analyses had pointed to.
The gap is explained almost entirely by a Slate Levy of 122.70 cents per litre applied to petrol and diesel, required by the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism after the combined cumulative slate balance reached a negative R14.173 billion at the end of March 2026.
The underlying Basic Fuel Price under-recovery, driven by international oil prices and rand weakness, came in at R2.04 per litre for petrol, in line with forecasts.
The slate levy is what pushed the total past R3.
Why the confirmed increase is larger than what was forecast
The Slate Levy is a mandatory adjustment mechanism that kicks in whenever the cumulative under-recovery on the slate exceeds R500 million.
At a negative balance of R14.173 billion, the mechanism required a levy of 122.70 cents per litre, or R1.227 per litre, to be added to both petrol and diesel price structures from Wednesday.
Most pre-announcement forecasts modelled the BFP under-recovery accurately but did not account for the full extent of the slate levy.
The rand averaged R16.6467 to the US dollar for the period 27 March to 29 April 2026, compared to R16.6429 in the prior period. The marginal depreciation contributed 0.36 cents per litre to the petrol BFP movement, a negligible factor relative to the movement in international product prices, which rose across petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin over the review period.
Diesel increases and the fuel levy relief that cushions them
Diesel is absorbing a far heavier hit than petrol. Both grades of diesel rise by 618.77 cents per litre in the wholesale price, translating to a R6.19 per litre increase before any relief.
The Minister of Finance has approved an extension of fuel levy relief that applies from Wednesday and runs until Tuesday 2 June 2026. For petrol, the existing R3 per litre reduction in the general fuel levy is extended at the same level.
For diesel, the temporary relief has been increased by 93 cents to R3.93 per litre, reducing the diesel levy to zero for the period.
For petrol motorists filling a standard 60-litre tank, Wednesday’s increase adds approximately R196 per fill compared to current prices. The new Petrol 93 retail price in Gauteng is R26.52 per litre. For diesel users, the effective pump increase will depend on which levy structure applies to their supply, but the gross increase before relief is the largest single-month diesel move in recent memory.
The next price determination period runs until 2 June 2026. Government will need to decide before that date whether to extend fuel levy relief a further time, allow the full unsubsidised levy to return, or introduce a structural adjustment to the pricing framework, a debate that has been running in policy circles for the better part of the past two years.
