Kenya Power Announces 12-Hour Token Purchase Disruption

Those consuming more than 100 units of electricity will pay Ksh20.97 per unit up from Ksh15.8 currently, a 32 per cent increase.

“With a view of meeting the social policy objective, the Lifeline Tariff band has been reduced from 100-kilowatt hour(kWh) per month to 30kWh, to cushion and address the needs of low-income households in the society,” EPRA stated.

“Accordingly, these consumers will be cross-subsidised by the other consumer categories in order to protect the vulnerable members of society. Despite this reduction, the Lifeline Tariff band will account for 6.3 million customers, representing 71.31 per cent of the total number of consumers. This covers a majority of the vulnerable sector base also known as 'Hustlers'."

However, Kenya Power Acting Managing Director Geoffrey Muli on Tuesday, March 28 opposed the new county government charges planning to increase the cost of electricity, revealing that there were plans by the counties to charge for every electricity pole erected in the devolved units.

Muli disclosed that some of the county administrations had already written letters to them notifying them of the move, with some of the counties revealed to be planning on implementing the new charges being Nairobi, Mombasa, Laikipia and Machakos.

"It will affect the cost of electricity for the citizen at the end of the day because power will go up and we will be knocking at the door of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to put it on the tariff. This is not sustainable," he explained while appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Energy.

Kenya Power had detailed plans that they were enforcing to see that the cost of power reduced significantly in the long run. One of the measures Muli intimated at the Tuesday meeting was the renegotiation of the existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)

According to KPLC, 60 per cent of the 100 billion collected in electricity bills was used to pay for the PPAs, with Members of Parliament (MP) calling for new PPA deals to be based on Kenyan shillings and not dollars owing to the dominance of the latter.

On January 1, President William Ruto dismissed reports that the cost of electricity and cost of living would increase in 2023 stating that the new costs were implemented in September 2022 which led to the increase in prices towards the end of the year.

"I would like to allay fears being spread that there will be an increase in the cost of electricity. I want to ensure the country that we removed subsidies in August.