AA calls for review of fuel prices
The Automobile Association (AA) has called for the country's fuel prices to be reviewed.
This follows a week of shocking price changes to petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin.
The petrol price went up by 81 cents a litre at midnight on Wednesday, but it dropped around lunchtime after the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy admitted it should have only gone up by 75 cents.
Even with the revised price, AA spokesperson Layton Beard warns the ripple effect for consumers will still be dire.
Beard adds there is a growing need to relook at fuel prices.
"The error by the DMRE validates the AA’s call that a total review of the fuel price, and an audit of all the process and components which comprise the fuel price, is necessary.
"While we appreciate that errors occur, the impact of the fuel price on millions of South Africans cannot be underestimated. This error, in fact, must be the catalyst for such a review."
Beard believes the department's process for fuel price determination lacks transparency.
"In the past the daily updates provided some indication of fuel price movements to the public, but that is no longer the case. This, combined with this error by the DMRE supports our view that a review of the fuel price is long overdue.
"We will continue to pressure government to initiate such a review so that all consumers are confident the pricing which is released by the DMRE is accurate and fair."
