Despite the harsh economic times being experienced in Kenya, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has plans to make it worse by increasing energy costs from April 1, 2023.
In the new proposed tariff that will come into effect upon approval by Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), the energy costs will increase by up to 78 percent.
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KPLC says the expected increase will be the first one since 2018, a period since which consumers have been using subsidized power. However, with President William Ruto taking a different path in terms of subsidies compared to his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenyans should brace for higher costs as signals indicate EPRA will ratify the tariffs.
Another infliction in the new proposal is the lowering of the threshold for accessing power subsidies.
“There is a proposal to revise the Life-Line (subsidy) consumption band for both small commercial and domestic customers from the current 100kWh/month to 30kWh/month,” said KPLC.
Should the new proposal sail through, consumers using less than 30 units per month will have to pay Ksh. 28.01, up from Ksh.20.70, while those using a monthly total of 50 units are the most hit as they will have to part with Ksh.Sh36.92 per unit, up from Ksh.20.70.
Read: KPLC Sets 40 Million For Electric Fleet
Kenya Power claims that the cost of operation has gone up over the years, with the money generated from the sale of energy remaining the same.
The last time the power company paid dividends was in 2017, with the financial situation deteriorating since then, a phenomenon linked to inadequate revenue.
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