Brace yourself for another shocker at the fuel pumps at midnight on Tuesday…

South Africa’s petrol price will hit another record high this month, as the department of energy has announced a massive increase in prices at the pumps.

According to the DoE, petrol will be climbing by 82 cents a litre for both 93 and 05 octane fuel, while diesel will be hiked between 85 and 87 cents per litre, and illuminating paraffin will go up by 82 cents.

This will take the official petrol price up to R15.54 for 93 octane, and R15.79 for 95 octane. Diesel (0.05% sulphur content) will hit R14.19.

According to the department, the average international product prices of petrol and diesel and illuminating paraffin increased during the period under review.

Additionally, the rand depreciated against the US dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared to the previous period.

The average rand/US dollar exchange rate for the period 25 April 2018 to 31 May 2018 was 12.5099 compared to 11.9797 during the previous period. This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 30.46 c/l, 31.17 c/l and 31.53 c/l respectively.

On top of prevailing market conditions, the latest hike also takes into account the leftover under-recovery from April, according to the Automobile Association (AA).

The AA also warned this week that, should market conditions continue on the current path, motorists can expect yet another petrol price hike in July, with the price expected to shoot past R16 a litre on a steady march to R17 a litre.