Although lucky consumers may be smiling while buying fuel at lower prices at some selected fuel stations under the same Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) due to their discounts, the discounts might be testing the robustness of Ghana’s Uniform Fuel Pricing Law.
With fuel being a sensitive commodity for households and businesses, the discount offers by Star Oil and GOIL at selected filling stations have been welcomed by many motorists.
But a bigger legal question is emerging. Do these selective discounts of the OMCs align with Ghana’s Uniform Fuel Price Policy?
Under the National Petroleum Authority (Prescribed Petroleum Pricing Formula) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2186), the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is mandated to administer a uniform petroleum pricing system.
The core idea behind this framework is that fuel prices within the same Oil Marketing Company (OMC) network should be the same everywhere, ensuring fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination across locations.
The law requires licensed OMCs to apply ex-pump prices uniformly across all their retail outlets, based on prices communicated and approved under the NPA’s pricing framework. This uniformity, the experts explain, is designed to prevent arbitrary pricing differences that could disadvantage consumers depending on where they refuel.
The Regulation 1(C) of the L.I. 2186 cited by The High Street Journal specifically states that the NPA, through the Uniform Pricing Law, must ensure “that ex-pump prices are the same throughout the countrу.”
This uniformity in price is further clarified and reinforced by the NPA’s Petroleum Products Pricing Guidelines issued on the 9th August 2024. Point 10 of the guidelines states that “OMCs and LPGMCs shall ensure that all retail outlets operating under their sponsorship always have a uniform ex-pump price, and these prices are the same as those that have been communicated to the NPA.”
This is where the current discount practices raise questions. Per the guidelines, by offering lower prices at only some stations, while other stations under the same brand sell at higher prices, are these companies not effectively creating multiple prices within a single network?
And if so, does this amount to a deviation from the uniform pricing requirement embedded in L.I. 2186?
It appears that the contradiction comes from Point 11 of the NPA’s Petroleum Products Pricing Guidelines. Point 11 reads that, “a retail outlet may offer discounts to consumers. The discounted price shall not be below the prevailing ex-pump price floor set by the Authority at any point in time.”
This is believed to contradict the preceding Point 10 and the provisions of the L.I. 2186 on uniform pricing across the same network of an OMC. Isn’t this Point 11 introducing discriminatory pricing within the same network of an OMC?
While supporters of the discounts argue that price competition benefits consumers and reflects market realities, critics, however, are asking if the selective discounts do not introduce price discrimination.
The question is, why should consumers at one location pay more than others for the same product from the same company, simply because of geography?
Lucky consumers may be enjoying cheaper fuel at select stations. But as the discounts spread and competition intensifies, the bigger issue is about the perceived inconsistency in the laws and guidelines on uniform fuel pricing.
