Electricity consumers have been handed a relief after the energy regulator yesterday retained power prices for the third month in a row in what is set to ease pressure on the cost of living.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) held fuel cost charge (FCC) at Sh4.63 per unit of electricity as well as the currency fluctuation adjustment rate at 73 cents per unit.
The pair is adjusted monthly to cater for changes in the cost of fuel, which is used to generate thermal energy as well as swings in the exchange rate of the Kenyan shilling against major world currencies.
Any increase would have watered down the power price cut by Epra following gazettement of new lower tariffs last month.
The last time Epra changed the cost of the components was in December when the regulator raised them to the current level up from a fuel charge of Sh4.21 in November.
“Pursuant to Clause 1 Part III of the Schedule of Tariffs 2018, notice is given that all prices for electrical energy specified in Part II of the said schedule will be liable to a fuel energy cost charge of plus 463 cents per kWh for all meter readings to be taken in February, 2022,” Epra director general Daniel Kiptoo said in the notice.
This comes a month after Epra significantly lowered power tariffs for the first time in three years following intervention by President Uhuru Kenyatta in the wake of an outcry over searing costs of energy.
In the new tariffs, Epra cut the energy charge for domestic lifeline consumers by Sh2.3 per unit to Sh7.7 down from the previous charge of Sh10 that has been in use since November 2018.
Lifeline consumers are those whose monthly power consumption does not exceed 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is the absolute majority of all power users.
This means that if they buy 100 units of electricity this month, they now pay Sh23 less on their power use.
Meanwhile, domestic consumers whose monthly consumption exceeds 100kWh but is below 15,000kWh are now paying Sh12.6 per unit down from Sh15.8, a 20 per cent reduction.
Non-domestic small commercial consumers whose consumption does not exceed 100 units will pay Sh7.7 per unit down from Sh10 while the same category of customers but whose use exceeds 100 units per month and is less than 15,000 units, will be charged energy charges of Sh12.4 per kWh down from Sh15.6.
At the same time, Epra reduced the energy charge for commercial and industrial consumers of over 15,000 units monthly to Sh8.7 per unit during normal hours down from Sh12/kWh.
The unchanged prices is a boost to consumers coming just weeks after the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said the January power prices cuts had already lowered the cost of living.
Data released by the statistics body showed year-on-year inflation eased to 5.39 per cent in January down from 5.73 per cent in December largely driven by the cheaper electricity prices.
