Kenyans To Pay More For Cooking Gas As Prices Set To Rise

Kenyan households will have to brace for higher prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on increased demand for the commodity in Asia due to a potentially colder start to winter and higher heating requirements.

According to Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) director-general, Pavel Oimeke said the global price of LPG increased by 2,752.5 shillings per tonne between September and October.

With the current price of 13-kg cooking gas retailing at between Ksh2,100 and Ksh2,200, Oimeke did not reveal the margin of increase within the local market.

“The price increase is as a result of the recovery of demand in India and Asia,” he said without indicating how much LPG prices would increase in the Kenyan market.

However, Mr. Oimeke said that the per capita consumption of LPG in Kenya had increased from 2.2 kilograms in 2013 to 6.4 kilograms last year.

“The increase is attributed to improved supply of LPG leading to higher penetration and also awareness creation on the benefits of LPG being one of the cleanest sources of domestic energy,” he said.

Earlier in the year, LPG was removed from tax-exempt goods in the Finance Bill 2020. This translated to households forced to pay 300 shillings more for cooking gas.

This was a turnaround from 2016, where Treasury scrapped the tax on LPG to cut costs and encourage households to leave kerosene and charcoal for cooking. The government in May 2020 embarked on distributing 6kg cylinders to poor households.

The Treasury has allocated 3 billion shillings for the purchase of the cylinders to be sold at a subsidized cost of 2,000 shillings inclusive of complete accessories under the Gas Yetu brand.

The country’s inflation rate hit a six-month high in November shooting to 5.46 percent compared to 4.84 percent in October with the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel’s index, increased by 0.07 percent during the month.

Kenyan households have since June 2016 been enjoying low cooking gas prices after the Treasury scrapped the tax on LPG to cut costs and boost uptake among the poor who rely on dirty kerosene, firewood, and charcoal for cooking.

The rise in the cost of cooking gas is expected to pile pressure on families that are struggling to foot daily bills due to job losses and drastic cuts in earnings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.