Second electricity tariff cut to target low-income households

The delayed second cut to electricity tariffs is expected to target low-income households.

Despite the lag in effecting a further 15 per cent cut to power prices, Energy Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma says the government remains committed to the plan.

"The reduction is predicated on the context that the commitment of the government to reduce tariffs still stands. In fact, if you look at the structure of tariffs there were categories which received a tariff reduction of more than 15 per cent," she said on Thursday.

"We are working at it and are looking at disintegrating the various categories so that we can still push it, particularly to the most affected strata of society. It is not an agenda that has been dropped from the government perspective, we still are working on it."

The follow-up tariffs cut from the initial trim in January are pegged on the outcome of ongoing negotiations between the government and independent power producers (IPPs).

CS Juma has maintained that the discussions are ongoing despite previous reports hinting at bottlenecks in engaging the biggest of the IPPs.

"The negotiations with IPPs are going on and we will be briefing substantially on it," added CS Juma.

A trim on system and commercial losses by Kenya Power delivered the first tranche of the 15 per cent cut to electricity prices which have held unchanged since January this year.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) places the cost of 50 units of electricity at Ksh.796.83 and Ksh.4373.12 for 200 units.