The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers are intensifying calls for government to remove the Emergency Energy Sector Tariffs imposed on petroleum products in the last quarter of 2015.

In an interview with Pulse Business, Executive Director of the chamber said government is no longer justified in keeping the Emergency Energy Tariffs, especially when international prices of oil on the world market have begun to rebound from their earlier slump.

“All we are saying is that the windfall is gone. And a closer look at the world market prices today shows that they have began to rebound. Government told Ghanaians that the Emergency Energy Tariffs were imposed in order to take advantage of the massive slump in prices at the time. That slump is over, so the taxes must go.”

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At the time government introduced the Emergency Energy Sector Levies, international fuel prices had plummeted to $30 a barrel from $55 in the second quarter of 2015. The prices have, however, currently rebounded to 40 dollars.

As at the time they were introduced, the Emergency Energy Sector Levies were to help in paying off debts owed by the state’s energy providers, namely Electricity Company of Ghana, Volta River Authority and the Tema Oil Refinery.

It is however unclear how much debt is being paid, and how much has been paid so far.