EWURA Fuel Prices November 2026: Diesel Up TZS 42 in Dar

The EWURA fuel prices November 2026 notice, reference PPR/2026-11/01, raised all three regulated products for a second month in a row. The rise is small next to October's jump. It still lands on top of a diesel cap that has climbed TZS 251 a litre in Dar es Salaam since September. For a business that burns diesel by the tanker, that gap is now a budget line, not a rounding error.

Below: the new caps, the law, the penalties, the receipts to keep, a fleet's fuel bill and the clauses that pass fuel costs on. Last month's detail is in our October 2026 fuel price post.

What changed

The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) published the public notice on cap prices for November 2026 on its petroleum price page. The listing is dated 3 November. The caps took effect at 12:01 am on Wednesday 4 November 2026.

EWURA's reason: world refined product prices eased slightly in October, but Middle East tension raised freight and insurance costs and so import premiums.

September figures come from the September 2026 notice and October figures from the October 2026 notice. The changes are our arithmetic. The November notice states the direction of the move but no amounts.

The Government says it is continuing to soften the impact, including through subsidies, as Daily News reported on 4 November 2026. Neither that report nor The Respondents gives an amount, beneficiaries or an end date. Treat the subsidy as unknown when budgeting.

Who is affected

Every buyer of petrol, diesel or kerosene on the Mainland pays within these caps. The businesses that feel a TZS 42 move most are those where fuel is a large share of cost:

• Transporters and logistics firms on long-haul corridors.
• Mines and quarries running haul trucks, excavators and diesel generators, often in Geita, Kahama, Shinyanga and Mara.
• Farms and agro-processors running tractors, pumps and dryers.
• Any site on generator power, from hotels to telecom towers.
• Fuel retailers and wholesalers, who must reprice, display the new caps and issue the right receipts.
• Contractors whose client prices were fixed at earlier fuel costs.

Retailers starting out should read our guide to EWURA fuel station and LPG licensing first. The pricing rules below apply to them from the first litre.

What are the November 2026 caps in the main towns?

EWURA builds every regional cap from the cost of discharge at Dar es Salaam, Tanga or Mtwara, plus transport. That is why Kigoma and Geita sit well above Dar es Salaam.

The November rise is not uniform. On our reading of the two notices, Mtwara, Dodoma and Arusha rose TZS 16 on petrol and TZS 32 on diesel, against TZS 26 and TZS 42 elsewhere in the table. Confirm the row for your own town before you rely on it. Diesel now sits TZS 45 above petrol in every town shown, against TZS 29 in October.

Dar es Salaam wholesale caps are TZS 3,935.23 for petrol, TZS 3,979.98 for diesel and TZS 3,969.83 for kerosene. Any retail cap can be checked free by dialling *152*00#.

What the law says

The notice cites section 166 of the Petroleum Act, Cap. 392. It also cites the EWURA (Petroleum Products Price Setting) Rules, 2022, GN No. 57 of 28 January 2022, their amendment in GN No. 761A of 30 October 2023, and the amended Bulk Procurement Regulations of 2024. The GN 57 Rules were made under section 40 of the EWURA Act, Cap. 414.

The structure is settled. Prices follow supply and demand, but EWURA caps them monthly with a formula based on the previous month's costs. Oil marketing companies may sell below the cap, never above it, and wholesalers may not go below the floor.

Under GN 57, the wholesale cap is the most a wholesaler may charge a retail or bulk customer. The floor equals landed cost and all other costs except margins. A mine buying direct from a wholesaler relies on the wholesale cap, not the pump cap.

Imports run through the Bulk Procurement System under section 168 of the Petroleum Act, as EWURA's pricing page explains.

Is selling above the cap or hoarding fuel an offence?

Yes. The notice warns that legal action will be taken against any retailer or wholesaler who fails to comply. The penalties sit in GN 57. We read the Rules as published on TanzLII; the 2023 amendment was not available to us, so confirm that it left these provisions unchanged.

GN 57 does not use the word "hoarding". The nearest offences are creating an artificial shortage and wilfully refusing to trade. A station that keeps stock in its tanks while telling customers it is dry, waiting for a higher cap, risks both. The penalties are minimums set by subsidiary legislation and are not in the Zatra fee register; treat them as verify-tier until the amendment is checked.

For buyers, the receipt is the proof of an overcharge. Prosecution, seizure of stock and licence action are for EWURA, the police and the courts. A business facing a charge, or a complaint that may end in court, should instruct an advocate.

What receipt should a business get for fuel?

The November notice requires retailers to issue receipts printed from an Electronic Fiscal Pump Printer (EFPP) for every sale. EWURA asks buyers to demand and keep receipts showing the station name, date, fuel type and price per litre. Those receipts are evidence in a pricing complaint.

Receipts also matter for tax. The Tax Administration Act, Cap. 438, requires fiscal receipts under section 44, and section 97 makes failure to use a fiscal device an offence. Under section 11(4) of the Income Tax Act, Cap. 332, inserted by section 35 of the Finance Act 2024, expenditure must be supported by a fiscal receipt to be deductible, subject to narrow exceptions. A fleet that pays drivers cash for fuel with no EFPP receipt may lose the deduction on that fuel.

• Require one EFPP receipt per fill, with the vehicle registration written or printed on it.
• Match receipts monthly to litres, odometer readings and the cap for that town.
• Flag any receipt above the cap for a complaint and for recovery from the supplier.

Our guides to EFD receipt rules and who needs an EFD machine cover the wider fiscal device regime. The VAT treatment of your fuel purchases depends on the product and your business; confirm it with your tax adviser rather than assuming input VAT is available.

Does the EWURA cap apply in Zanzibar?

No. EWURA's caps cover Mainland Tanzania. In Zanzibar, the Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority (ZURA) regulates downstream petroleum and has set and published fuel prices since 2015. Its prices are set separately and can differ from EWURA's.

ZURA's November 2026 prices are unknown to us at 5 November 2026. ZURA's price page does not allow automated reading, and we found no published report of a November notice. Check ZURA's notice or a Zanzibar station board before quoting a Zanzibar price.

Budget sites on each side separately. VAT rules also differ; see our Zanzibar and Mainland VAT comparison.

Worked example: a 20-truck fleet's monthly fuel bill

Take a logistics company with 20 trucks, each using about 3,000 litres of diesel a month. That is 60,000 litres a month, the same volume we used in October. Assume every litre is bought at the retail cap.

Run at the November cap for twelve months, the Dar es Salaam fleet spends TZS 2,972,160,000 on diesel. Every TZS 50 a litre move changes that by TZS 3,000,000 a month, or TZS 36,000,000 a year.

The same fuel carries charges that the fleet never pays directly. The fuel levy is TZS 523 a litre on petrol and diesel (register F0260). The petroleum levy is TZS 250 a litre on gas oil and motor spirit (register F0316). Both are collected at import and sit inside the cap. On 60,000 litres they account for TZS 46,380,000 of the monthly bill.

For example, a mine buying 200,000 litres of diesel a month from a wholesaler, priced off Dar es Salaam, pays at most TZS 795,996,000 at the November wholesale cap of TZS 3,979.98. In October the same volume cost at most TZS 787,582,000. The difference is TZS 8,414,000, before transport to site. A farm in Mbeya using 5,000 litres of diesel pays TZS 210,000 more this month at the cap.

How should contracts pass fuel costs through?

Haulage, mining services and construction contracts often fix rates for months. Two rises in a row hurt any contractor without an adjustment clause. A good fuel clause has six parts:

1. An index: the EWURA cap for a named town and product.
2. A base: for example, the Dar es Salaam diesel cap of TZS 4,128 in November 2026.
3. A fuel share: the agreed percentage of the rate that is fuel.
4. A band: no adjustment for moves within, say, 2%.
5. Timing: adjust from the first invoice after a new notice.
6. A ceiling, or a right to renegotiate beyond it.

Formula example: adjusted rate equals base rate times (1 plus fuel share times the percentage change in the cap). On a TZS 1,000,000 trip rate with a 40% fuel share, a 1.0% diesel rise adds TZS 4,000.

Without a clause, the general law of contract applies, and a price rise alone rarely excuses performance. Contracts priced in US dollars raise separate currency rules; see our guide to USD contracts in Tanzania. Where a client refuses to adjust and a dispute is building, take an advocate's view before you stop work. Our post on arbitration or litigation explains the forums.

How should businesses budget for December and beyond?

The next notice is expected around the first Wednesday of December. Nobody outside EWURA knows the figure, so budget on a range.

• Base case: November caps held flat for the quarter.
• Stress case: a further TZS 200 a litre, close to the September to October diesel move of TZS 209.
• Relief case: a fall of TZS 100, if freight and premiums ease or subsidies widen.

Our financial modelling team builds these ranges into cash flow forecasts. Transport businesses also need their own licences in order; see transport and logistics licensing.

What to do now

1. Update the fuel price file. Load the November caps for every town where you buy, from the EWURA notice, not from a news report.
2. Re-run the monthly fuel budget. Price litres at the cap for each base town and add the stress case for December.
3. Audit receipts. Check that every October and November fill has an EFPP receipt showing station, date, product and price per litre.
4. Check prices paid against the cap. Any litre above the cap is a complaint to EWURA and a claim against the supplier.
5. Review client contracts. List every contract without a fuel adjustment clause and open talks before the next notice.
6. Review supplier contracts. Wholesale agreements should reference the wholesale cap.
7. Separate Zanzibar. Price Zanzibar sites from ZURA's notice and keep their receipts in a separate file.

Key dates

How Zatra helps

Zatra builds fuel budgets for fleets, mines and farms, and drafts fuel adjustment clauses and receipt controls. Our tax advisory team checks that fuel spend is deductible and properly evidenced. For new fuel retailers, we prepare the EWURA and municipal licence files.

Government charges, such as a municipal business licence for a petrol station in a city or municipality at TZS 200,000 (register BLB207), are paid to the authority at the official rate. They are separate from Zatra's professional fee, which we quote in writing before work starts. Zatra does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. EWURA, ZURA, TRA and the courts decide.

Prosecution, seizure of stock, licence suspension hearings, contract disputes and formal legal opinions are matters for an advocate of the High Court. We work with your advocate or introduce one. To start, contact Zatra with your fuel volumes by town and your main client contracts.

Sources and status

Accurate as at 5 November 2026.

• Public notice on cap prices for petroleum products, November 2026 (PPR/2026-11/01). EWURA, effective 4 November 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Public notice on cap prices for petroleum products, October 2026 (PPR/2026-10/01). EWURA, effective 7 October 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Public notice on cap prices for petroleum products, September 2026 (PPR/2026-09/01). EWURA, effective 2 September 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Petroleum price publications. EWURA, listing to 3 November 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Petroleum product pricing. EWURA, 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• EWURA (Petroleum Products Price Setting) Rules, 2022, GN No. 57. TanzLII, published 28 January 2022. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Petroleum Act, Cap. 392. TanzLII, Revised Laws 2023. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Petroleum regulation. Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority, 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Tanzania pledges to provide subsidies to protect consumers affected by rising fuel prices. Daily News, Dotto Lameck, 4 November 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Tanzania keeps fuel subsidies as prices rise. The Rio Times, 4 November 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.
• Government moves to cushion Tanzanians against rising fuel prices. The Respondents, 4 November 2026. Accessed 5 Nov 2026.

Figures to confirm before you act

• The cap for your own town: read its row in the November notice or dial *152*00#. Our town table was read from the notice and the changes are our arithmetic.
• The uneven November rise in Mtwara, Dodoma and Arusha (TZS 16 petrol, TZS 32 diesel): confirm against the printed notice.
• The GN 57 penalties: confirm that GN 761A of 2023 did not change rules 6, 7 or 10.
• Subsidy amounts, beneficiaries and duration: not published at 5 November 2026.
• ZURA's November 2026 Zanzibar prices: unknown at 5 November 2026.
• Fuel levy and petroleum levy (F0260, F0316): confirm against the Finance Act in force.

This article is general information based on official sources available at the date of publication. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and notices change. Verify with the issuing authority or consult Zatra before acting.