Kenyans will pay the highest bill for electricity since 2014 according to the report released by Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
According to the report, the fuel charge in electricity bills jumped to the highest in three years, coming at a time when the price of super petrol, paraffin, and diesel increased with paraffin leading by more than 5 shillings per liter.
In November, the fuel cost charge in power bills stood at 4.35 shillings per kilowatt hour from 3.35 shillings per kilowatt during the month of October.
Kenya heavily relies on diesel-powered generators to generate electricity due to continuous low water levels in major dams across the country. The amount of power produced by diesel-powered generators is often adjusted monthly according to the new prices announced by ERC and for this month, it was adjusted to 4.79 shillings per kilowatt.
According to ERC, the exchange fluctuation adjustment cost has dropped by 0.19 shillings per unit in November with an extra of 0.89 shillings per unit being transferred to consumers. The overall power bills are expected to rise by about 680 million shillings.
The current increases in the prices of fuel are likely to push up the inflation which had dropped from 7.06 September percent to 5.72 percent in October attributed to the low cost of food items.
This month, the ERC announced the increase in fuel prices attributing it to the increase in the landed cost of Super Petrol by 1.42 percent, diesel by 6.31 percent and Kerosene by 8.12 percent.
“Taking into account the weighted average cost of imported refined petroleum products, the changes in the maximum allowed petroleum pump prices in Nairobi are as follows: Super Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene increases by 1.03 shillings, 3.70 shillings and 5.05 shillings per liter respectively,” read a statement from ERC.
A liter for Super Petrol has increased by 1.03 shillings to 102.7 shillings while diesel has gone up by 3.70 shillings to 92.41 shillings.