Kenya Power has made a fresh application to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in its bid to adjust its tariffs upwards. An earlier proposal which was drawn and was expected to take effect in July has been withdrawn.
The tariff sought to increase the charge per kilowatt hour (kWh) to Sh3.70 on domestic consumers for the first 50 units up from the current rate of Sh2.00 per kilowatt hour. It had also proposed to increase the monthly fixed charge—meant to recover costs related to meter reading, billing and accounting—from Sh120 to Sh160.
The withdrawn tariff would have seen households consuming between 51 units and 1,500 units pay Sh11.79 per Kwh from Sh8.10 per Kwh while those consuming above 1,500 units pay Sh22 per unit from Sh18.75.
The new proposals however includes a cheaper off peak tariff for bulky users although Kenya Power has fears about it as most of these users are asking for huge discounts of up to 50% with the distributor saying it can only afford 20% discounts.
Kenya power says the delays in revising the new power tariffs has greatly affected its earnings and would like to implement the new tariffs as early as September.