Fuel price regulation

South Africa has in theory, regulated fuel price. In theory, there is a set price per region - and this should have both a stabilising effect on the price of energy in the country; as well as reduce the effect of distance/low population density areas on the price of fuel. In theory at least.

The following table gives the fuel price in the towns I filled up in.

Town	Octane	Price per litre
Kempton Park	U 95	R 7.92
Vryburg	U 93	R 8.04
Pofadder	U 93	R 8.28
Lamberts Bay	U 95	R 7.79
Bellville	U 95	R 7.69
Three Sisters	U 95	R 7.90
Warrenton	U 93	R 7.97
Midrand	U 95	R 7.92

This table is skewed slightly by the fact that Unleaded 93 Octane fuel is the only fuel available in North West and Northern Cape (and unavailable in the Western Cape). That said, there is a massive difference of 59c per litre, between the fuel price in Pofadder and the price in Cape Town! What is also quite perplexing is the difference between Pofadder, Vryburg and Warrenton - especially as they are almost equidistant from each other!

I am not sure how the regions are broken up with regards to the fuel price; but there is certainly a big fluctuation in the price. I am not sure if this is the outcome of regulatory intent; or the bad policing of regulation.

All the data in a few graphs (click for a larger version):