The shock of the ERC electricity bills for consumers under a new price :: Kenya

Poor households and a majority of the middle clbad will feel the biggest pinch of new electricity rates released yesterday.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) spared consumers of large volumes of electricity from electricity bills that could spark national outrage

.
ALSO READ:

The tricks of online and mobile banking scammers

The substantial increase in energy costs is despite the elimination of fixed monthly fees and the reduction of the variable on the electricity bill, such as fuel costs and foreign exchange adjustments.

In the new structure arrived as a result of a storm on inflated bills and a complicated billing structure, Kenya Power's middle clbad consumers will pay higher fees while their richer counterparts will benefit from substantial discounts on bills. While ERC said the very poor would see their bills go down, it lowered the threshold to 10 kilowatt hours (units) per month, which can only benefit a consumer using a single energy saving light bulb. energy and only a few hours a day.

This could block a majority of power users. The regulator has indicated that 3.6 million consumers under 10 units would benefit from the discounted rate.

Consumer Problems

Whether the news is factual and true. Text & # 39; NEWS & # 39; at 22840 and still receive verified updates.

Previously, the threshold – called the base rate – was set at 50 units. According to the new structure, Kenyan households consuming 200 units per month will now pay 4,580 shillings a month, an 11% increase over Sh4,121 that they would have paid under the current structure.

By cons, low-income users who consume less than 10 units of electricity per month will pay Sh186, down from the current Sh278, while a relatively wealthy household that will consumes 1,500 during the same period will pay 29,700 Sh, compared to 33,800 shillings that she would have paid according to the current structure.

Pavel Oimeke, Director General of the ERC, said the new tariffs were based on consultations with different stakeholders and on the need to look at consumer issues as well as the need to make services sustainable electricity.

"The commission took into consideration the best pricing practices that emphasize social equity, economic prudence and the financial sustainability of public services," said Oimeke at the meeting. publication of the new tariffs in Nairobi.

ALSO READ:

How two cabinet secretaries control the calls for electricity pole offers

In the new structure, which will come into force tomorrow, domestic consumers will pay 16.60 shillings per unit of electricity consumed, a reduction 6% compared to the current price of 17.8 shillings the unit.

Consumption costs usually add up to variable costs such as fuel costs.

While very poor consumers will benefit from reductions, ERC also examined who should benefit from the subsidized rate of "vital tariff".

Oimeke said that there was an overall reduction in the amount paid by domestic consumers in the Lifeline Rate, which is a subsidized scheme for low-income customers using less than 10 units per month.

That's about half of the consumers in Kenya Power. Previously, it allowed customers to use up to 50 units at a subsidized rate.
Eng Jared Othieno, acting chief executive of Kenya Power, said the new tariffs would address many issues that consumers have raised on their bills, including the simplified way of charging prepaid customers.

ALSO READ:

Kenyans want to know the truth in the sugar probe