Power firm softens push for tariff hike

Kenya Power staff repair a power line in Migori town. [File, Standard]

Kenya Power appears to be slowing down its push for a tariff increase and is instead rooting for sector-wide reforms including reviewing the relations it has with power producers to reduce the cost of procuring power.

The firm has in the past called for higher tariffs, noting that while customers should get affordable power, there was also a need to keep the industry sustainable.

In 2019, the electricity distributor applied to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) for a 20 per cent hike on the power tariff.

The company, however, said yesterday it would try to turn around its operations without loading more costs on consumers.

Vivienne Yeda, the Kenya Power chair told shareholders that though the firm was not yet out of the woods, it had made progress over the recent months through measures such as cost cutting and sealing loopholes that have enabled siphoning of money in the past. 

She said the company was near its short-term goal of stabilising cash flows.

“The improved cash position has been achieved within the existing tariffs,” Ms Yeda said during the firm’s annual general meeting.

“All it took was an insistence and persistence on doing things right, on not embarking on unnecessary expenditure, on taking a close look at costs including energy costs, collecting amounts due and tightening systems.”

Yeda was appointed the company’s chair in November.

“The board is of the view that as long we continue on this path of effective management and leadership and our customers pay their bills on time, there would be no urgent need for a tariff increase,” she said.

“Kenyans have enough financial burdens today, we have no intention of adding to those burdens.”

It is, however, not a guarantee that consumers will be saved from a price hike.

In its annual report for the year to June 2020, Kenya Power said it was pursuing a tariff increase, decrying the lengthy time it has taken for the energy industry regulator to review power prices.