SA fuel price hike too much for some pumps

Motorists and petrol pump attendants will have to use mental arithmetic to calculate how much they owe for fuel when the price goes up on Wednesday as some pumps are not able to handle more than three digits, the SA Petrol Retailers Association (Sapra) said today.

Sapra chairperson Wessel Strauss said that at these older pumps, motorists would have to multiply the amount on the pump by 10 to calculate what is owed for fuel.

Diesel customers will be affected initially, as the price will go up to R10.67 for a litre for high sulphur on Wednesday and R11.72 for low sulphur, Strauss said.

"This whole price hike has caught a lot of people by surprise," said Strauss, explaining that the older model fuel pumps in the country, cannot display amounts over R9.99.

"If petrol costs R13 a litre, the pump will only show R1.30 so it will have to be multiplied by 10 in the short term."

"It's going to be confusing in the beginning, not only for the motorist, but for the petrol attendants as well," he said.

The Department of Minerals and Energy was due to explain these short term measures to the public today, he said.

A department spokesperson was not immediately available to comment. - Sapa