What Is the Petrol Price in Cape Town Today?
Petrol 95 · coastal
−R0.52 this month
Petrol 93 · coastal
reconstructed — see methodology
Diesel 500ppm
wholesale — pump price varies
Next adjustment
2 September 2026
Every regulated price in the coastal zone
| Fuel | Cape Town | Gauteng | This month | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diesel 500ppm (0.05%) | R25.30 / L | R26.17 | +R1.38 | wholesale verified |
| Diesel 50ppm (0.005%) | R25.53 / L | R26.41 | +R1.23 | wholesale triangulated |
| LPG | R33.44 / kg | R36.70 | −R4.41 | retail maximum verified |
| Illuminating paraffin | R17.71 / L | R18.76 | +R1.52 | wholesale verified |
| Petrol 93 unleaded | R24.55 / L | R25.42 | −R0.52 | retail maximum triangulated |
| Petrol 95 unleaded | R24.71 / L | R25.58 | −R0.52 | retail maximum verified |
Effective 5 August 2026 to 1 September 2026. Petrol figures are maximum retail prices and are what you pay. Diesel and paraffin are regulated at wholesale only — forecourt prices sit above them and vary by station.
Why there is no cheapest-station table here
Every other petrol page you have used probably ranks filling stations. This one does not, and the reason is not laziness — it is that in South Africa the ranking would be a list of identical numbers.
Petrol is a regulated retail price. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources sets a single maximum pump price for each magisterial district zone every month, and in practice every station in the zone charges exactly that. Cape Town sits in the coastal zone. The Engen on Main Road, the Shell on the N1 and the Astron in Khayelitsha all sell 95 unleaded at the same rand and the same cent. A station cannot legally charge more, and discounting is not where forecourts compete — they compete on shop, on coffee, on car wash and on loyalty points.
Diesel is different in a way worth knowing. Government regulates diesel at the wholesale level only, so the figure published each month is what the wholesaler may charge, not what you pay at the pump. Retailers set their own diesel margin on top. Every diesel figure on this page is labelled wholesale for that reason, and your actual pump price will usually sit above it.
So instead of a comparison that does not exist, this page shows you the thing that does: where your money actually goes inside that regulated price, why the coast pays less than Johannesburg, and what moved the number this month.
What a litre is actually made of
The government publishes this breakdown in cents, every month, for 95 unleaded. Almost nobody looks at it. Taxes and levies come to R7.20 — 28% of the price before the fuel itself.
The fuel itself R13.08 (51%)
The basic fuel price — what it costs to land the product in South Africa.
Tax and levies R7.20 (28%)
Fuel levy, Road Accident Fund, slate, customs and excise, products levy.
Retail and wholesale margin R3.82 (15%)
The regulated cut taken by the forecourt and the wholesaler.
Storage and distribution R1.49 (6%)
Moving and holding the fuel. The zone differential is the inland-only line.
Rounding R-0.00 (-0%)
Pump rounding to the full cent.
| Price element | c / litre | Rands | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic fuel price | 1307.690 | R13.08 | 51.1% |
| General fuel levy | 429.000 | R4.29 | 16.8% |
| Road Accident Fund levy | 225.000 | R2.25 | 8.8% |
| Slate levy | 61.380 | R0.61 | 2.4% |
| Customs & excise duty | 4.000 | R0.04 | 0.2% |
| Petroleum products levy | 0.330 | R0.00 | 0.0% |
| Retail margin | 315.100 | R3.15 | 12.3% |
| Wholesale margin | 66.500 | R0.67 | 2.6% |
| Secondary storage | 39.000 | R0.39 | 1.5% |
| Secondary distribution | 19.100 | R0.19 | 0.7% |
| Zone differential (inland only)not paid at the coast | 91.100 | R0.91 | 3.6% |
| Pump rounding | -0.200 | R-0.00 | -0.0% |
| Inland maximum (Gauteng) | 2558.00 | R25.58 | 100% |
| Coastal maximum — what Cape Town pays | 2471.00 | R24.71 | −R0.87 |
The schedule publishes this composition on the Gauteng basis. Every line above except the zone differential is national. The coastal price is lower by R0.87 a litre because fuel does not have to be moved inland to reach Cape Town.
R7.20 of every litre is tax
The government publishes exactly how the petrol price is assembled, in cents, every month. Almost nobody reads it. It is worth reading.
Of the price of a litre of 95 unleaded this month, 429 cents is the general fuel levy, 225 cents is the Road Accident Fund levy, 61.38 cents is the slate levy, 4 cents is customs and excise, and a third of a cent is the petroleum products levy. That is 719.71 cents — R7.20 — of tax and levy in every litre, before anyone has bought a drop of fuel.
The basic fuel price, which is the actual imported cost of the product, is 1,307.69 cents. Retailers get a regulated margin of 315.10 cents, wholesalers 66.50 cents, and storage and distribution take another 58.10 cents between them.
Two of those lines are worth dwelling on. The general fuel levy spent April, May and June 2026 heavily discounted under Treasury's temporary relief measures — as low as roughly 110 cents at one point. That relief was fully phased out from 1 July, restoring the full 429 cents on petrol and 416 cents on diesel. It is the single biggest reason pump prices are where they are rather than three rand lower.
The slate levy is stranger. When the regulated price fails to cover what importers actually paid, the shortfall accumulates in a national account called the slate. When that account is more than R500 million in the red, a slate levy is added to every litre to pay it back. At the end of June 2026 the combined petrol and diesel slate stood at negative R7.418 billion. You are, in a small way, paying off a national overdraft each time you fill up.
Why Cape Town pays 87 cents less than Johannesburg
Fuel arrives in South Africa at the coast — imported through the ports, or refined near them. Getting it to Gauteng means pipeline and road, and that costs money, so the price schedule adds a primary distribution charge that grows with distance from the sea.
The effect is precise and published. This month the inland maximum for 95 unleaded is R25.58 and the coastal maximum is R24.71: a gap of 87 cents a litre, which on a 50-litre tank is R43.50. It is not a Cape Town discount so much as a Johannesburg surcharge, and it applies to diesel too, at 87.2 cents.
There is a second layer most people never see. Within each zone band, prices vary slightly by magisterial district — the schedule runs to dozens of zones, not two. Cape Town sits in Zone 1A, the coastal reference zone, which is why the headline coastal figure is the one that applies here.
One local oddity: LPG. Gas landed at Saldanha Bay carries its own Western Cape maximum price, higher than the general coastal maximum, because of what it costs to bring it in through that port.
What happened this month
Petrol came down 52 cents. Diesel went up sharply — R1.38 on 500ppm and R1.23 on 50ppm — and paraffin rose R1.52. That split is unusual and worth explaining, because it did not come from the same place.
Over the review period, from 26 June to 30 July 2026, international petrol product prices edged down while diesel and paraffin rose. The rand weakened slightly, averaging 16.4554 to the dollar against 16.3774 in the previous window, which added 6.4 cents to petrol's cost and rather more to diesel's.
On its own, petrol's under-recovery for the period was 0.288 cents — essentially nothing. The 52 cent cut did not come from cheaper oil. It came from the slate levy dropping from 113.94 cents to 61.38 cents as the national slate account was partly repaid. Motorists got a cut because a debt got smaller, not because fuel got cheaper.
Diesel had no such cushion. Its under-recovery ran to 190.76 cents on 500ppm, and even after the same 52.56 cent slate relief the net move was a R1.38 increase.
For context on how volatile this year has been: July's adjustment cut petrol by R1.96 and diesel by more than R3, after the mid-June ceasefire reopened the Strait of Hormuz and crude fell hard. In April, May and June, inland 95 ran as high as R28.06. This month is neither of those extremes.
Rand over the review window
from 16.3774 prior
Slate levy
from 113.94c
Petrol recovery
over/(under) for the period
National slate balance
what the levy is repaying
What a tank costs
At the regulated coastal price, so this is what you will pay anywhere in the city.
The same tank in Gauteng: R1,151.10 — you save R39.15 by filling up at the coast.
Tank sizes are manufacturer nominal capacities and are shown as a convenience, not as a measurement of your car. Petrol figures are the regulated coastal maximum, which every Cape Town station charges.
The monthly cycle, and what to watch mid-month
South African fuel prices change once a month, on the first Wednesday, at midnight. The schedule published with each change states the period it covers, and the next adjustment follows the day after that period ends — which is how the countdown at the top of this page is worked out. It is not a date typed into this website.
Between adjustments there is a public signal most people never look at. The Central Energy Fund publishes a daily basic fuel price file tracking the running over- or under-recovery for the month so far: whether the current regulated price is covering what importers are actually paying. A sustained over-recovery through a month has typically preceded a cut at the next adjustment, and a sustained under-recovery an increase.
Typically, not always, and this page will not tell you what next month's price will be. The daily figure is an average of the month so far, so it moves less as the month goes on, and a late swing in the rand or in crude can still turn it. What it does give you is an honest read on which direction the pressure is running while the month is still in progress.
Common questions
What is the petrol price in Cape Town today?
Cape Town is in the coastal pricing zone, where the regulated maximum for 95 unleaded is R24.71 a litre and 93 is R24.55, effective 5 August 2026. Those prices hold at every filling station in the zone until the next adjustment on 2 September 2026.
Why is petrol the same price at every station?
Because it is a regulated retail price, not a market one. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources sets one maximum pump price per magisterial district zone each month, and stations charge it. They compete on convenience, shop and loyalty programmes instead of on price.
Is diesel also fixed?
No. Diesel is regulated at the wholesale level only. The published figure is the maximum a wholesaler may charge; retailers add their own margin on top, so pump diesel varies between stations and is usually higher than the wholesale figure shown here.
Why is petrol cheaper in Cape Town than in Johannesburg?
Fuel lands at the coast and has to be transported inland, so the price schedule adds a distribution charge that increases with distance from the sea. This month that gap is 87 cents a litre on petrol — about R43 on a 50-litre tank.
How much of the petrol price is tax?
R7.20 of every litre of 95 unleaded this month: 429 cents general fuel levy, 225 cents Road Accident Fund levy, 61.38 cents slate levy, 4 cents customs and excise and 0.33 cents petroleum products levy. That is before the fuel itself, the retailer's margin or distribution.
When does the petrol price change next?
On 2 September 2026. Prices change on the first Wednesday of each month at midnight; the schedule published with each change states the period it covers, and the next adjustment falls the day after that period ends.
Will petrol go up or down next month?
We do not predict prices, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can tell you is that the Central Energy Fund publishes a daily running over- or under-recovery through the month, and that a sustained over-recovery has typically preceded a cut. That is a pattern, not a forecast.
Methodology and sources
Every fuel figure on this page comes from one source: the monthly press release issued by the Central Energy Fund on behalf of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That document carries the official adjustment for each product, the full price structure in cents per litre, the review-period exchange rate, the slate balance and a history table of past prices by zone.
Two coastal figures are not printed in that schedule directly: petrol 93 and diesel 50ppm. Both are reconstructed from the same document, by taking the published inland figure and subtracting the coastal differential the schedule publishes for the grades it does print — 87.00 cents for petrol, 87.20 cents for diesel. The method is checked rather than assumed: run it against the July schedule and it reproduces the published July coastal prices exactly, to the cent. Those two rows carry a triangulated badge; everything else on this page is taken straight from the schedule and badged verified.
We do not average conflicting sources. Several news outlets published different August figures in the days before the official release — some quoting mid-month estimates as final. Where those disagreed with the official schedule, we used the schedule.
- CEF monthly press release for 5 August 2026 (PDF) — the source we follow
- Petrol 93 coastal: Reconstructed from the same CEF schedule: inland 93 (2542.00 c/l) less the 87.00 c/l coastal differential the schedule publishes for 95. The method reproduces the published July coastal 93 price exactly.
- Diesel 50ppm coastal: Reconstructed from the same CEF schedule: inland 0.005% (2640.610 c/l) less the 87.20 c/l coastal differential the schedule publishes for 0.05%. Independently matches the Fuels Industry Association table.
Read next
rand
The rate inside the pump price
The schedule used 16.4554 to the dollar this window.
Read →electricity
The other regulated price you pay
City tariffs move once a year; fuel moves once a month. Both are set, not competed.
Read →this week
Every adjustment we have logged
The monthly fuel move, with what caused it, dated and sourced.
Read →