The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) has expressed disappointment with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for raising the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) margin.
This decision has resulted in a domino effect on fuel prices at gas stations, adding to the burden on the public.
The NPA issued a circular instructing industry players to raise the UPPF margin by GH₵0.05 per liter of fuel in the Price Build Up for petroleum products starting from June 1, 2024.
As a result, petrol and diesel prices climbed to GH₵14.84 per liter at some service stations on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, reacted to this development, stating that consumers are already struggling with high fuel prices due to currency depreciation.
He criticized the decision to increase the margin, emphasizing that it adds to the financial pressure on consumers when prices should ideally be reduced.
“These things simply continue to add onto the pressure that fuel prices continue to face in the country. It is quite unfortunate that we continue to add on at a time that we should be thinking of reducing prices for our people. Prices simply would end up going up because we have done an increase in some of the margins just a few days ago, not good enough”, he said.
Amoah also highlighted that global crude oil prices have significantly dropped recently, suggesting that fuel prices should have decreased accordingly.
He argued against passing on costs to consumers, mentioning that the UPPF margin has doubled from around 45 pesewas per liter to 90 pesewas per liter, eroding potential consumer benefits.
“Indeed fuel prices should have declined in the last window and this window. The cedi’s performance has been largely blamed for the prices still being where they are and very high. UPPF used to be around 45 pesewas a litre but unfortunately we’ve had to increase it and increase it. Currently we’ve also adjusted it to now 90 pesewas a litre”, he lamented.
Some oil marketing companies have already raised prices at the pumps, with Shell selling petrol and diesel at GH₵14.84 per liter.
GOIL, on the other hand, is selling petrol at GH₵14.60 (up from GH₵14.55) and diesel at GH₵14.75 (up from GH₵14.70), attributing the adjustment to the increased UPPF margin.
Without the margin increase, prices would have remained unchanged according to industry insiders.