Taxi association's bargain basement petrol station may be illegal: Department of Energy

A petrol station opened by the Dobsonville‚ Roodepoort‚ Leratong‚ Johannesburg Taxi Association (Dorljota) has been hailed for its lower prices‚ but its legality has been called into question.

The almost invisible filling station on Amsterdam Street‚ Roodepoort‚ has been running since November last year and was opened specifically for taxi drivers. It boasts that its petrol is a whole 50 cents a litre cheaper than elsewhere. “The petrol we use gets finished sometimes and it’s costly. It doesn’t give us the muscle we need. We can’t operate without petrol‚” said Zeblon Simelane‚ the public relations officer of the association.

The petrol station gained notoriety on social media when a user posted a slip from a purchase.

The prices‚ decided upon by the executive of the association‚ have 93 octane petrol set at R12‚88 per litre; 95 octane petrol is R13‚12 a litre with diesel costing R12‚66 a litre.

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Currently‚ according to pricing regulations published by the Department of Energy in December 2016‚ 93 octane unleaded petrol is set at R13‚38 and unleaded 95 octane at R13‚62‚ while leaded 93 Octane is also R13‚38 and leaded 95 Octane is R13‚52‚ in fuel pricing zone 9C‚ which Roodepoort falls under.

The department has questioned the association’s pricing‚ saying a difference of 50 cents a litre seemed excessive and may be illegal.

“There are 52 fuel pricing zones in the country and these have different prices. All service stations in the same fuel pricing zone must however have the same petrol price. Without having all the details‚ a difference of 50 cents looks to be excessive‚” said Thandiwe Maimane‚ department spokesperson. “Charging a different petrol price compared to the other service stations within the same fuel pricing zone is illegal [and] no one can be exempted from charging the gazetted petrol price for any particular zone‚” said Maimane.

“The petrol price is regulated by government and all retailers in each specific zone must comply with the law.”

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But Simelane insisted that Dorljota was doing nothing wrong.

“The product belongs to us and it depends on us. We can decide on the prices.”

He said they would also make their own decision on whether to increase the price in line with the hikes recommended by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his budget last week.

The 2017 budget proposed a 30c per litre increase in the fuel levy and a nine cents per litre increase in the RAF levy‚ effective on April 5‚ meaning motorists will pay 39c extra.

- TMG Digital