Nairobi — The Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has reduced the prices of fuel by Sh1 in its latest price review with a subsidy being retained on kerosene.
In the latest EPRA review, a litre of petrol will retail at Sh177.30 in Nairobi while a litre of diesel will retail at Sh162.00.
The energy regulator noted that the price of diesel has been cross-subsidized with that of super petrol.
Cross-subsidization is when a marketer charges higher prices to a group of consumers in order to subsidise lower prices for another group.
In this case, it means diesel users will pay a higher price so as to ensure petrol users have a lower price.
A litre of kerosene will retail at Sh145.94 with the government maintaining a Sh17.68 subsidy on the commodity.
"The Government will utilise the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) to compensate oil marketing companies for the difference in cost," said EPRA.
The prices are inclusive of the 8 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2018, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2020 and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation as per Legal Notice No. 194 of 2020.
In Mombasa, a litre of petrol will retail at Sh174.98, diesel at Sh159.76 and kerosene at Sh143.69. For Kisumu, a litre of petrol will retail at Sh177.50, diesel at Sh162.70 and kerosene at Sh146.66.
The Sh1 decrease in the cost of fuel comes against a decrease in the landing costs of the commodities.
The average landed cost of imported Super Petrol decreased by 5.60 per cent from USD726.77 per cubic metre in September 2022 to USD686.05 per cubic metre in October 2022.
Further, the landing cost of diesel decreased by 2.33 per cent from USD884.46 per cubic metre to USD863.81 per cubic metre while Kerosene decreased by 9.08 per cent from USD883.22 per cubic metre to USD803.06 per cubic metre.
"The Free On board (FOB) price of Murban crude oil lifted in October 2022 was posted at USD 98.06 per barrel a decrease of 7.46 per cent from USD 105.96 per barrel in September 2022," EPRA said.
The new prices could offer a slight relief to Kenyans who are currently battling a high cost of living with the country's inflation hitting 9.6 per cent in October. due to the high costs of fuel, food and housing.
