Consumer relief as electricity bills ease for fourth month
A welder at his workplace in Olympic Bus Terminus in Kibera, Nairobi, on December 6, 2023. Epra has cut power prices by up to 73 cents per unit, giving consumers relief.
Consumers have been handed a further relief in lower electricity bills this month after the energy regulator cut prices by an average of 73 cents per unit.
As a result, an ordinary domestic customer will be paying about Sh1,277 for 50 units of power, a marginal drop from Sh1,311 last month.
At the same time, those who use 100 units will pay Sh2,554 compared to Sh2,623 in April while for 200 units, customers will pay Sh5,109 down from Sh5,245 last month.
It is the fourth consecutive monthly drop in prices charged by Kenya Power, coming at a time consumers are also enjoying a five-month straight drop in fuel prices.
In the latest monthly power prices review, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) has cut the Foreign Exchange Rate Fluctuation Adjustment by 99 cents from Sh1.96 per unit in April to 97 cents in May.
The decline is supported by the continued strengthening of the Kenyan shilling against the US dollar in recent months, which has lowered foreign currency denominated power purchase costs.
The shilling grew in value against the greenback from exchanging at an average of Sh137.53 in March to Sh131.4 in April, translating to a valuation increase of 4.2 percent, according to official figures from the Central Bank of Kenya.
Thermal uptake
However, Epra raised the Fuel Energy Cost (FEC) by 26 cents to Sh3.52 per unit up from Sh3.26 last month. The money raised from the FEC is used to reimburse thermal power generators for fuel use.
The increase in the charge signals increased uptake of expensive thermal power during the period.
Electricity is used to power homes, businesses and heavy industries such as manufacturing plants, and therefore plays a key role in determining the cost of living.
Lower fuel, power and food prices have helped lower annual inflation to 5 percent in April, the lowest since October 2022, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
KenGen, the State-owned electricity producer, has also stepped up hydropower generation in recent months due to the ongoing heavy rains which have filled the country’s major dams.
According to Epra data, hydropower generation jumped by 11.3 percent to 290.48 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) in March up from 260.88 million units in February.
It is the highest quantity of hydropower produced in the country since January 2022 when generation hit 320.3 million units, helping hand consumers cheaper power prices.
“It is expected that water levels will remain high for most parts of May 2024 as the ongoing rains persist,” said KenGen's chief executive Peter Njenga last week.
