Nairobi — Kenyans are staring at a higher electricity costs starting April after Kenya Power proposed upward revision of domestics retail tariff rates.
In the proposed rates, domestic users and small businesses will face the highest increase as the utility firm seeks to revise the Life-Line consumption band for both from the current 100kWh per month to 30kWh per month.
The revision is expected to align the objectives of the social tariff customer category with the correct social class normally defined by level of income.
Currently, domestic consumers of electricity pay Sh10 per kwh for using between 0 to 100 kilowatts(kw) with those consuming upwards of 100kWh paying Sh15.80 per kilowatt.
In the proposed tariffs, domestic consumers will pay Sh14 per kWh for up to 30 kilowatts of power while those exceeding 30kWh per month expected to pay Sh21.68/kWh, a figure which is set to drop to Sh20.61 in July 2024.
Small businesses currently pay Sh10 per kwh for using between 0 to 100 kilowatt will pay Sh15.60 for usage upwards of 100 kilowatt.
In the new tariffs, the small commercial users of electricity will pay Sh14 per kWh for up to 30 kilowatts of power.
For those using upwards of 30 kilowatts, the utility firm proposed Sh21.08 per kWh in January 2023, an amount projected to increase to Sh20.88 in July before a marginal drop to Sh20.07 in July 2024.
Large power consumers categorized as Commercial Industrial I will also pay more with the cost per kWh set to increase from Sh12 to Sh16.48.
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Under Commercial Industrial II, consumers will pay Sh15.02 per kWh from Sh10.09, while users under Commercial Industrial III will pay Sh14.44 from Sh10.50.
For firms falling under the Commercial Industrial V, which is made up of a few but very heavy users, the cost per kWh will increase from Sh10.10 to Sh13.90.
"The rationale of this Retail Tariff Review is to incorporate change in Electricity Sub-sector cost structure and update key assumption with an aim of providing adequate sector revenue requirements," industrial regular EPRA said in a call for public memoranda.
As part of the review, the energy regulator said a bulk supply tariff will be introduced for commercial and small commercial customers to improve distribution efficiency.
Under the tariff, small commercial users whose bulk use ranges between 1000 to 15,000 kilowatt hours will pay less while large businesses whose bulk use is above 15,000 kilowatts will pay more as they are heavier users of power.
For users under Commercial/Industrial Customer VI and VII which will cater for customers metered at 220kV and customers in Olkaria-Kedong Special Economic Zone in Naivasha respectively, they will pay Sh12 per kWh.
Under street lighting, the cost of power per kWh will increase to Sh11 from Sh7.50.
Kenya Power proposed a special E-mobility tariff of between 200-15,000 kilowatts that will cost Sh17/kWh to influence demand and growth of the sector.
