Diesel drops R3 a litre in November. Don't quote like it lasts.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the fuel levy on diesel will drop by R3 a litre from 4 November. For anyone running a bakkie or a van for work, that is the best fuel news of the year.

It is also temporary, and the way it ends matters more for your quotes than the way it starts.

What was announced

In the medium-term budget, Treasury set out two steps. From 4 November to 1 December, the levy falls by R3 a litre on diesel and R1.50 on petrol. From then until 5 January 2027, the cut shrinks to R1.50 on diesel and R1 on petrol. After that, the full levy returns.

The relief costs R10 billion in foregone revenue. Godongwana said it would come from the R10 billion that had been moved to the Central Energy Fund, which now goes back to the National Revenue Fund.

The cut comes off whatever the November price would otherwise have been. Inland diesel was R33.29 a litre in October, and the official November prices are still to be announced, so the number at the pump depends on oil and the rand as well.

Put simply: if your vehicles burn 400 litres of diesel a month, the first step is worth about R1,200 over those four weeks. Then it halves. Then it is gone, in the first week of January, when many service businesses are just restarting.

A four-week discount on diesel is a reason to bank the saving, not to drop your call-out fee.

What to do with it

The same budget cut this year's growth forecast to 1.2%, from 1.6% in February. Customers will stay careful with money, and some will ask why your prices have not come down if fuel has. A clear answer helps more than a hasty discount.

• Leave your call-out fee and travel lines as they are. The relief lasts weeks. Cutting a fee now means raising it again in January, which is a harder conversation.
• Price any work after 5 January at full fuel cost. Quotes going out now for January and February jobs should not assume the levy cut. If your quotes stay valid for 30 days or more, say travel is charged at current rates.
• Move fuel-heavy jobs into November where you can. Long trips, distant sites and supplier runs cost the least between 4 November and 1 December.
• Put the saving aside for January. For many trades it is a quiet month with school fees, rent and suppliers to pay, and the full levy comes back with it.

If a customer asks about the fuel cut, the honest answer is simple: it is temporary, and you would rather keep prices steady than move them twice in two months. If you did not raise your prices every time diesel went up this year, say that too.