Electricity tariffs set to go up as EPRA embarks on stakeholders meetings

Kenyans should brace themselves for high tariffs if the proposal by the KPLC will be accepted by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).

Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop that was held at a Garissa hotel, Dr John Mutua the acting director economic regulations and strategy at EPRA hinted at the tariffs going upwards was however quick to add that several factors will have to be looked into before a final decision is made.

The last tariff review for electricity was done in 2018. In 2022 January the tariff was adjusted downwards by 22 percent. a subsidy that the government had to pay. The tariffs were however not cost reflective.

He said when reviewing a tariff among the things that are looked into are economic issues, policy and whether the National interest in terms of economic are included in the tariffs.

“Basically when you look at a tariff application, you are looking at recovery cost. KPLC is not looking for money for their own purposes. they are looking for revenue requirements to pay for the cost of supplying electricity from generation, transmission to distribution and also their taxes that have to be collected from their tariff,” he said.

“We also look at the financial sustainability and social policy that is where we are looking at the tariff to ensure that it does not negatively impact on the common mwananchi.

“KPLC has also to pay for the cost of installing the infrastructure like the Garissa solar plant and others that are spread across the country,” he added.

Eng. Andrew Machosi in charge of infrastructure development at Kenya Power said a lot of things have changed since the last tariff review that was done in 2018 emphasizing on the need to increase.

“The network has expanded over the five year period. the expanded network will definitely require additional costs in terms of operations and maintenance. you look at the kind of investments that we have got to do in order to expand the infrastructure so that we can be able to reach the customers, that is also a capital outline for the business."

He added: “so we are here to appeal to the people that yes we have got challenges that will require capital investments which could only be realized through the tariff review. And we have got to carry the people along. that in the event we want better survives and improved infrastructure and serve you better then we might need to these revenues to be able to support that kind of work to deliver our mandate."

Residents who spoke at the meeting while acknowledging the need to review the tariffs upwards, called on the energy regulatory body to be considerate of the tough economic times kenyans were going through.

“As much as we understand that times have changed and everything including fuel has gone up, we would not wish to be the ones who will bare the burden of cost. let the new tariffs be ones that we can manage,” said Abdi Nassir Aden.

KPLC submitted a proposal for a review of its retail tariff, and as part of its mandate, EPRA which received the application on 31st of October last year is conducting public hearings to gather input and feedback from the public on this proposal.

This is to ensure that consumers’ voices are part of the final tariff, and that the tariff imposed by the power utility is fair and equitable for both consumers and the company.

EPRA has already done stakeholders meetings in Nakuru and Kisumu towns. Similar meetings will also be held in Nairobi and Mombasa.