Kenya Power has formally withdrawn a bid to increase electricity bills.
The announcement was made by Energy Cabinet Secretary, Charles Keter, who noted that the electricity firm had recalled the request submitted to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in 2019.
Kenya Power said that it will now focus to cutting costs, curbing electricity theft and recovering unpaid bills amounting to over Ksh27 billion.
This comes as a reprieve to consumers who have been lamenting on the high cost of power.
Kenya Power have been pushing for an increase in electricity prices by up to a fifth since 2018.
The Energy CS noted that the shift was prompted by the newly appointed directors who identified a reduction of money paid to power firms regardless of generation as one of the key actions that will pull Kenya Power out of deep losses and bring down electricity bills.
“The shift was prompted by the new directors appointed last year proffering cost cutting, sales growth and reduction of power brought from generators that does not reach home and businesses, technically known as system losses, to tariff increases,” CS Keter noted.
Kenya Power had sought to increase the consumption charge for usage of less than 100 kilowatts per month to Ksh12.50 a unit, up from the current Ksh10.
The charge for consuming above 100 units was to rise to Ksh19.53 a unit from the current Ksh15.80.
Earlier on in the month members of the National Assembly began the process of pressuring Kenya Power to lower the cost of electricity.
On September 7, Parliamentary Energy Committee Chair, David Gikaria, noted that the spike in power costs was caused by expensive deals power manufacturers had signed with Kenya Power.
He further noted that the pricing tariffs given by the producers to Kenya Power was double to what it had signed with Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).
