Good News as Electricity Bills Go Down By 31%

Kenyans have welcomed the move by the Energy Regulatory Authority to reduce the cost of power for domestic and small commercial consumers. The electricity costs have been slashed by Shs.2 and shs.5 kilowatts per hour respectively.

Energy Regulatory Commission Director General Pavel Oimeke said the charge for domestic consumers will now retail at Sh10/KWh down from Sh12KWh.

The charges are for consumers who spend 99 units and below within a specific period of time.

Charges for 100 units and above have been maintained hence customer in this category will not have any changes in their current bill.

This means that for every 99 units bought, consumers will be able to save slightly above Sh400 a move likely to affect Kenya Powers financial books.

This even as the power distributor issued a profit warning for the year ended June 2018 last week by over 25 per cent as compared to the previous year.

The new rates are effective tomorrow, November 1 and will be applied until the end of the current financial year which ends in June 30, 2019.

Small consumers will now be charged Sh10 KW/h from Sh15 KW/h.

This will see their bills reduced by 31 per cent.

The reduction comes a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered a reduction in the cost of electricity for the SMEs sector, which employs 75 per cent of the national workforce, within one month.

“This amendment is aimed at increasing the share of manufacturing, food security and Nutrition, Universal healthcare and Housing inline with the big four Agenda,” Oimeke said.

He further attributed the move to Increasing complaints from the public on power bills Post July 2018.

Data from ERC shows that there are currently 6.25 million domestic consumers.

 

 

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