EPRA Director General Pavel Oimeke. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenyans consumed more cooking gas in the first nine months of
2019 compared to a similar period last year, ushering renewed hopes of
wider usage of clean energy in households.
Government data show that households consumed 26 percent more LPG in the period to September 2019 compared to that of 2018.
The
249.5 tonnes of LPG consumed in the nine months is 6.7 tonnes more than
last year’s despite the average price having risen by Sh9 to Sh2,176.80
in 2019 for a 13Kg cylinder of cooking gas.
The
increased consumption is attributed to rising consumer confidence in the
products after regulatory efforts to tame illicit trade in LPG and
investment in the sector. The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority
(EPRA) says the consumption is bound to increase as the end year
festivities kick in and more players join the industry under new
regulations.
“More LPG consumption happens in the last
half of the year due to the Christmas festivities. Any decline now will
self-correct as the festive season for 2019 approaches,” EPRA Director
General Pavel Oimeke said.
Gas market players had expressed concerns over the disorder in
the industry that saw unscrupulous traders hijack competitors’ cylinders
and refill them, risking lives of users.
There were
also concerns over poor quality cooking gas seeping in through the
Tanzania border, a move that hurt investor and partly consumer
confidence in LPG.
Petroleum Institute for East Africa
had claimed that almost 90 percent of cylinders that were circulating in
the market were outside the control of Oil Marketing Companies under
the old cylinder pool, underlining the confusion that existed.
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