Kenyans are set to dig deeper into their pockets for electricity bills after the Energy regulator approved electricity prices increment by 20 percent in the wake of a renewed push by Kenya Power.
The higher tariffs will aid Kenya Power’s turnaround efforts, but hurt household budgets and raise the already high cost of doing business in Kenya if implemented.
Kenya Power has proposed to revise electricity tariffs upwards by at least 20 percent, to help cover costly wholesale electricity purchases from generators such as KenGen, and maintenance of the national grid.
KPLC blamed an increase in non-fuel power purchase costs for its recent 91.9 percent drop in profit, wherein the year ended June 30, 2019, net earnings fell to 262 million shillings from 3.3 billion shillings the previous year.
The costs went up by 18.1 billion shillings to Sh70.9 billion shillings, from 52.8 billion shillings in a similar period in 2018, it notes in its audited financial results.
EPRA said that had examined and approved the application by Kenya Power which will now be published for stakeholder consultations
They added that the difference between what was applied for and what they have approved is not much. This could have been completed earlier but the surge in Covid-19 cases has slowed the progress recently.
Kenya Power wants to increase the consumption charge for those consuming less than 100 kilowatts per month to 12.50 shillings a unit, up from the current 10 shillings.
This will see the bills of homes consuming 50 units monthly increase to 961 shillings from the current 816 shillings, representing a 17.8 percent jump when other charges like taxes, inflation, and fuel and forex levies are incorporated.
Households consuming 200 units will get a bill of 5,477 shillings from the current 4,612 shillings, reflecting an 18.8 percent rise, given their consumption charges will rise to 19.53 shillings per unit from the current 15.80 shillings.
The new prices are likely to derail Kenya’s quest to make energy costs competitive compared with other African nations like Ethiopia, South Africa, and Egypt. The Cost of power is a key determinant of new investment.