Kenyans will pay Ksh.26.57 per unit of power consumed this months as electricity charges spike in September from higher tariffs.
This will be the highest cost of electricity per unit on record since the review of the schedule of tariffs by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in November of 2018.
In August, Kenyans paid a mere Ksh.24.77 for a kilowatt (kWh) of electricity consumed.
The Water Resource Management Authority Levy (WRMA) which is a component of power billing has shot up 80 times to Ksh.1.60 from a mere two cents last month according to new electricity tariffs gazetted by EPRA on Friday.
This on the back of a deal between government and the World Bank last month which raised the regulatory charges on water companies to cover rising operation and maintenance costs.
The raise has seen EPRA raise the water levy in electricity billing, a levy representative of energy purchased from hydro-power plants.
At the same time, the fuel cost charge which covers power generation from thermal sources such as diesel generators has risen again to Ksh.3.88 from a lower Ksh.3.77 in August on the back of increased fuel prices as announced by EPRA earlier this week.
Moreover, the foreign exchange fluctuation adjustment (FERFA) which covers for foreign exchange fluctuations in power purchase deals by Kenya Power has gone up to 77 cents from a lower 69 cents in August.
The sharp rise in electricity costs this month is expected to weigh heavily on Kenyans who are already feeling the pinch of a meteoric rise to fuel prices as petrol and diesel retails at the highest cost in the country’s history.
Combined the weighting of greater electricity prices and high fuel costs will see the cost of living hit highs last seen before the pandemic when the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) publishes September’s inflation rate in two weeks.
