By Jevans Nyabiage
The recent gains made on inflation could be eroded after fuel prices rose to levels last witnessed five months ago as motorists and households begin to dig deeper into their pockets for fuel effective midnight today.
Energy Regulatory Commission on Saturday announced new prices with pump prices for petrol and kerosene increasing by up of Sh6 per litre.
ERC said in a statement that effective midnight, a litre of super petrol will go up by Sh6.31 to Sh115.26, Diesel up by Sh5.04 per litre to Sh106.1, Kerosene up by Sh6.36 per litre in Nairobi.
While issuing the new pump prices for the next one month, ERC also stated that going forward, predicting pump prices is going to be a difficult affair with no clear indication of a possible drop.
“We have observed an inconsistent trend in the price of refined petroleum products in the international market over the last one month. This makes it difficult to predict the effect on pump prices in subsequent reviews,” said Kaburu Mwirichia, ERC director general.
The new prices mean that in Mombasa effective mid-night, a litre of super petrol will now be Sh112.78, kerosene at Sh83.22 and diesel at Sh 102.7.
In far off towns like Mandera, a litre of super petrol will retail at a whooping Sh107.78, kerosene at Sh86.77 and diesel at Sh Sh118.92.
According to the statement from ERC, the rise in prices was as a result of an increase in the average landed cost—the cost of importing the fuel upon landing at the port of Mombasa.
ERC statistics indicate that the average landed cost of imported super petrol increased by 12.5 percent to $1025.05 per tonne in August compared to $1148.54 per tonne in September.
Over the same period the cost of imported diesel rose by 5.21 percent to $1049.8 and kerosene by 8.69 percent to 111.24 per tonne on September.
Interestingly, over the period under review, the mean monthly exchange rate deteriorated marginally by 0.76 per cent to Sh84.70 to the US$ compared to Sh84.06 to the US$ in August.
The new prices are set to have an impact on poor households the most as they depend on kerosene for cooking and heating. It will also be felt across the economy especially in the transport and manufacturing sectors.
Curiously, this month’s adjustment came without any mention of the effect of the cost of credit on the final pricing.
The news of the rise could not have come at a bad time as just last week, Kenya Power has increased the fuel cost and forex components of electricity charges.
Consumers will be required to pay Sh6.08 per kilowatt hour in fuel costs up from the current Sh5.99 and the forex element up from Sh1.44 to Sh2.24 per unit
