By Standard Team

Most Kenyans are now paying more for kerosene than petrol, The Standard has established.

Kerosene, which is mainly used for lighting households in rural areas, is retailing at higher prices than petrol in some places.

Most consumers complain that a lot of emphasis has been put on reduction of petrol prices, but nothing has been done about paraffin costs.

A survey in most petrol stations in Central Province found paraffin retailing for as high as Sh84 a litre, compared to petrol whose price has come down to Sh76.

Static prices

While the prices of petrol have been reduced by more than Sh20, those of paraffin have remained static or gone up by Sh5.

In Nyahururu town, prices have gone up despite the reduction of petrol and diesel prices that were effected last week.

At the Kobil Petrol Station in the Central Business District, kerosene is sold at Sh82.50 a litre.

At a Total Service Station, the price of a litre of paraffin is Sh83.40 in what the operators attribute to the rising cost of transportation.

An attendant at the Kenol Service Station David Mureithi, said the cost was still high because supplier prices were still high.

"The suppliers are still charging us very high prices making individual petrol stations unable to reduce the prices," said Mr Mureithi.

In Nyeri town, the average price of a litre of paraffin is Sh70, a slight reduction of about Sh3.

At a Kobil Petrol Station in the town, a litre of paraffin is retailing at Sh70 from the previous price of Sh73, while a litre of petrol has been reduced from Sh102 last month to Sh76.

At Gitui Service Station in Murang’a town, the price of paraffin has been reduced from Sh79 to Sh68, while at Petro Station the price has gone down by Sh5 to Sh71.

Murang’as Mugama Petrol Station General Manager Ephantus Wanjohi said the station would lower the price of paraffin next week to reflect a reduction in global crude oil prices.

And four MPs have expressed concern over the high cost of kerosene which they said was the most commonly used fuel by ordinary Kenyans.

The MPs said fuel companies should reduce pump prices for kerosene to make it more affordable.

"Low income earners cannot afford the energy source,"said Kibwezi MP Philip Kaloki.

He added that the reduction of fuel prices was noble saying motorists had suffered for long.

"The pump prices should even be lowered further to enable commuters benefit through reduced fares," said Prof Kaloki.