Consumers could pay less for power as Cabinet bars charges

 

PHOTO | FILE Wananchi queue to pay electricity bills at Kenya Power head office. The Cabinet has approved a proposal by the ministry of Energy and Petroleum to withdraw charges imposed on electricity generation and transmission.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By IMMACULATE KARAMBU

 

In Summary

• Local authorities stopped from fining Kenya Power for hosting transmission lines in their regions

Cabinet has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to withdraw charges imposed on electricity generation and transmission by local authorities and government agencies.

The decision could see the cost of electricity climb down as it is aimed at reducing the number of charges which electricity consumers have to pay for in the monthly bill.

“Cabinet approved a proposal by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to withdraw charges imposed on electricity generation, transmission and distribution by local authorities and other government agencies as these have had the effect of escalating the cost of power,” read part of the brief on the Cabinet meeting.

Some of the charges include Sh630 million which the Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA), a government agency, is demanding from the Kenya Power Generating Company (KenGen) for producing more than two megawatts of electricity from hydro resources.

Recently, the energy tribunal gave KenGen a go-ahead to recover the cost through the monthly bill.

The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) has already filed a petition in court seeking an order to stop the state-owned power generator from recovering the WARMA charges from consumers.

The Cabinet argued that low electricity charges would accelerate the rate of industrialization as it would lead to lower production costs thereby making the country a preferred investment destination.

Propelling industrialization

“Cabinet noted that Kenya is focusing on being a low cost energy country as a way of propelling industrialization and attracting investments. This move will effectively reduce the cost of power to below 10 cents per kilowatt,” read part of the Cabinet brief.

A number of local authorities had submitted proposals to charge Kenya Power for hosting transmission lines within their territories.


With the Cabinet approval to withdraw charges imposed on electricity generation and transmission, these proposals are likely to be rejected.

Implementation of the Cabinet resolution could also see the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum revoke the regulation that authorised WARMA to demand generation fees from KenGen.

The Cabinet resolution stems from talks that have been ongoing between the ministry of Energy and Petroleum and that of National Treasury on whether to eliminate the charges.

In the Thursday’s meeting, the Cabinet also urged the ministry of Energy and Petroleum to focus on adding 5,000 kilowatts of electricity to the national grid in the next three months.