Monday, 10 October 2022
News — Fuel Quality Monitoring in Eswatini What Every Fuel Consumer should know
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Fuel is an essential part of our daily lives. There are many fuel products that we consume for domestic and business purposes. These include petrol, diesel and liquid petroleum gas. ESERA is mandated to ensure that the quality of fuel in the country is according to the right standards and specification and is safe for consumers. In today’s article, we speak about how the Authority monitors the quality of fuel in the country and the impact this has on the consumer.
ESERA has a vigorous program to monitor the compliance of Eswatini’s fuel to industry standards. This is to ensure that the quality of petroleum products in the country is according to the right standards as published by the Eswatini Standards Authority; the right industry approved specification and is safe for consumers. In this way, consumers of petrol, diesel and oil products in the country can rest assured that these products are safe for consumption.
It is crucial to highlight that fuel quality regulation needs to be combined with vehicle emissions standards, as the backbone of any country’s roadmap for reducing pollution from vehicles. Fuel Standards usually go through vigorous testing and approval from automobile manufacturers and fuel manufacturers before they can be adopted. This ensures that the standards are in accordance with the mechanical needs of the automobile machines including vehicles and other machines.
The Authority has an inspection program that monitors the industry’s compliance to these standards. Through this program, ESERA’s quality inspectors sample fuel around the country, across the industry’s value chain; at the point of entry which are the boarder gates, the storage facilities for fuel in the country as well as the filling stations where consumers purchase fuel.
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The Regulator has been receiving questions about fuel additives being in circulation in the country and investigations are ongoing to determine the efficacy and safety of such additives. It should be noted that additives are not new and the fuel at the pump has approved additives to ensure optimal engine performance, distance and lifetime of the engine. Furthermore, there are Fuel standards for fuel in circulation in the country these standards have been approved by standard bodies, automobile manufacturers and fuel manufacturers.
Fuels and vehicles are a part of an integrated system and need to be addressed simultaneously and any additives or products to be used in fuels or vehicles need to be approved by all relevant parties within this system. The Regulator, therefore, warns the public against using any product that has not yet been scientifically proven or approved by the relevant regulatory bodies.
The Regulator invites the manufacturers and/or marketers of the additives to share any scientific data for further analysis by the Regulator and industry players. They can contact the Manager-Consumer & Stakeholder Management, Teclar Maphosa, on 78089945.
SUMMARY
The Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority was established in terms of the Energy Regulatory Act of 2007. The Authority’s mandate is to ensure the security of supply, the quality of supply and the quality of services offered in Eswatini’s electricity industry and petroleum industry.
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