Raising cost of power will hurt suffering Kenyans and the economy further

High electricity cost in Kenya has in the past seen investors relocate to other countries, including in the East Africa region. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The planned increase in the cost of power is ill-advised. As such, the government should consider retaining the electricity tariff in place at the moment to cushion Kenyans from further rise in the cost of living.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority is at the moment reviewing the tariff that it published in January this year and which expires at the end of this month. The tariff was published following a directive by former President Uhuru Kenyatta and resulted in a 15 per cent drop in power costs.