Nairobi, KENYA: Kenyans are reprieved from a high burden of paying electricity bills after the government announced to scrap off fixed charges of sh.150 incurred on power every month.
Speaking in Nairobi on Monday, Energy Regulatory Commission Director General Pavel Oimeke said that they took the initiative in order to lower the amount domestic power users spend on power bills.
He pointed out that, domestic consumer lifeline tariff will reduce by between 36 to 82 percent in order to cushion low-income households whose consumption does not exceed 10 units per billing period.
“To ensure that there is equity and consumers pay for power only when they consume, all fixed charges for all consumer categories have been removed. This is meant to simplify understanding of the bills,” Sid Pavel.
The MD added that charges are intended to have all Kenyans charged fairly given their distinctive consumption trends.
ERC also announced that industrial and commercial customers are set to get a reduction of 4.4 percent on average in addition to the 50 percent discount in the time of use tariffs.
Earlier when he appeared before Senate Committee on energy, Oimeke said that small commercial consumers have been split into two categories based on their capacity.
Those with a consumption of between zero and 1,000kWh have been classified into small consumption while those with 1,000kWh to 15,000kWh have been put in the small and medium enterprises category.
He added that this will ensure tariffs are predictable and that consumers are not charged for any fixed cost when they are not consuming power at any point.
