Ghana’s Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is calling on the government to slash the Energy Sector Shortfall and Recovery Levy, popularly known as the “dumsor levy”, by 50 percent for a limited period, as part of a package of measures aimed at bringing down fuel costs for ordinary Ghanaians.
The proposal was contained in a statement released on Friday, April 10, in response to the government’s ongoing review of taxes and levies within the petroleum price build-up, a review that has raised public expectations of relief at the pumps.
Under COPEC’s proposal, the levy would be temporarily reduced from GH¢1 to 50 pesewas per litre, a cut the Chamber says would translate directly into a 50 pesewa reduction in fuel prices for consumers. According to COPEC, the impact would be immediate and tangible, significantly reducing household expenditure on transport and energy at a time when public anxiety over rising fuel costs and the prospect of renewed power outages is running high.
COPEC framed the proposal not just as consumer relief, but as a strategic balancing act for the government. By retaining half of the levy rather than scrapping it entirely, authorities would continue to collect revenue to support the energy sector and keep power plants running, reducing the risk of costly emergency power procurement and protecting industrial productivity.
The Chamber argued that sustaining a revenue stream, even at half the current rate, would also help shield long-term tax revenues from the kind of disruption that a complete removal of the levy might trigger.
COPEC was candid about the limits of its own proposal. A 50 percent cut in the levy would inevitably reduce funds set aside for servicing energy sector debts, and could slow planned maintenance activities if the intervention stretches beyond its intended window. That is precisely why, the Chamber stressed, the reduction must be strictly time-bound.
COPEC proposed a one-month window, a timeframe it described as sufficient to deliver meaningful economic relief while remaining short enough to avoid long-term disruptions to the energy sector. The Chamber argued that such targeted, time-limited measures demonstrate genuine responsiveness to public concerns without sacrificing fiscal prudence.
Urging policymakers to act with urgency, COPEC called on the government to give the proposal serious consideration as part of its broader short-term strategy to cushion consumers against rising global petroleum prices.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com