The Executive Director of the Centre for Environment and Sustainable Energy, Benjamin Nsiah, has criticized the government’s newly approved GHȼ1 fuel levy, describing it as a regressive and unimaginative policy that places an unjust burden on already stretched consumers.
Speaking to Citi Business News, Nsiah questioned the government’s continued dependence on petroleum-related taxes to patch financial gaps in the energy sector. He warned that this strategy has proven both unsustainable and ineffective over the years.
“This approach is not only tired but unfair,” he stated. “We’ve seen this playbook before — the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA), the Energy Sector Recovery Levy — and yet none have addressed the deep-rooted structural inefficiencies of the energy sector. It’s not about collecting more. It’s about managing what’s already collected.”
The GHȼ1 levy is part of the Energy Sector Levies (Amendment) Bill, 2025, passed recently by Parliament. According to Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the measure is intended to help settle $3.1 billion in legacy energy sector debts and raise GHȼ1.2 billion to procure fuel for thermal generation next year.
Dr. Forson insists the levy will not raise ex-pump fuel prices, but that claim has been met with skepticism, especially from the opposition. The Minority Caucus staged a walkout during the bill’s passage, arguing that the Majority lacked the quorum required and slamming the measure as inappropriate and poorly timed.
Nsiah argues that the consequences of such levies are real and immediate for consumers, who have borne the cost of repeated hikes since 2016 without seeing tangible improvements in service delivery or debt reduction.
“The idea that this won’t burden consumers is simply not accurate,” he said. “The Ghanaian public has been carrying this weight for years, and without real reform, this trend will continue.”
Nsiah emphasized that the government must pivot away from revenue-first policies and instead focus on fiscal discipline, transparency, and operational efficiency across the energy value chain — from fuel procurement to distribution.
“We need to stop using the consumer as a stopgap funding mechanism,” he urged. “It’s time to fix the pipeline, not just pour more water into it.”
