Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana, COPEC, has asked the Ghana Standard Authority, GSA, to as a form of punishment to GOIL, Shell and other fuel stations who have adjusted their pumps allow customers have free fuel for a day.
Speaking to Citi FM, Executive Director of COPEC, Duncan Amoah said the current sanctions are not deterrent enough to stop the Oil Marketing Companies, OMCs from adjusting their fuel pumps to cheat customers.
Duncan Amoah was reacting to a report from the GSA that some fuel stations have adjusted their pumps.
"We know that some fines have been applied, it's a note to all of us that the fine has not been deterrent enough to stop these OMCs who have decided to adjust their pomps to cheat customers, we are asking that the fine now be made heavy and deterrent enough so if a station is found of adjusting and cheating consumers maybe you should give the whole day or week for the same people who bought fuel and were cheated to go out there and fill their tanks for free because this GHC5,000 is inadequate to stop the OMCs....."
GOIL, Shell adjust fuel pumps to cheat customers
GOIL and Shell are among several filling stations identified by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to have adjusted their fuel pumps to cheat customers.
This was discovered after the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) carried out unannounced inspections of fuel pumps at randomly selected fuel stations in the Greater Accra, Central and Eastern Regions.
The stations which were found to be cheating customers are the Shell station at the Motorway Extension; Total at McCarthyHill in Accra; GOIL at Mile 11; Frimps Oil at Tetegu junction; GOIL at Galilea; and Frimps Oil on Spintex Road.
The rest are Glory Oil on the Spintex Road; Allied Oil at Sakaman; Shell at Amanfrom West and Goodness Energy at Kasoa.
Two other companies, Galaxy Oil, Spintex Road and Agapet, Spintex Road were found to have broken the GSA seal without permission.
Also, the exercise was carried out to inspect and ensure that GSA plastic seals on dispensing pumps are not tampered with and to lock the nozzles of dispensing pumps that are under-delivering, as well as to issue out notices of failure if the pumps failed the test for a penalty.
The team that carried out the inspection visited 65 stations in total and found 55 of them delivering the right quantities while the aforementioned stations under-delivered.
The number of stations visited are Shell (11), Total (15), GOIL (12), Fraga Oil (1), Lucky Oil (1), Engen (1), Frimps (2), Petrosol (3), Top Oil(2), Star oil (2), Goodness (1).
The rest are Semanhyia (1), Galaxy Oil ( (1), Nick Petroleum (2), Agapet (1), Puma (2), Glory Oil (1), Allied (1), Radiances (1), EVl (1), Power Fuel (1), Universal (1) and Compass Oleum (1).
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