The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Director General Daniel Kiptoo revealed plans to regulate the setting up of petrol stations across the country.
Speaking during a conference on Thursday, December 8, Kiptoo explained that the mushrooming of petrol stations was of concern to the authority.
He noted that having several stations in a given area was affecting business.
The DG cited instances where petrol stations were making fewer sales because of the crowding of stations.
"The infrastructure from 2010 to 2022 has really grown. The mushrooming of stations is an area we are looking at.
"In some areas, stations that were doing 200,000 to 300,000 litres a month are now doing 70,000 to 80,000 a month because there are four or five stations in the area," he divulged.
Kiptoo asserted that the authority would set a standard guide which would be used when approving the setting up of stations.
"We are coming up with a regulation that will give the radius where will not be allowing new stations because the economics does not make sense.
"This will not only protect the consumers but also the entrepreneurs such that, they do not have to make an investment that will cripple them," he explained.
However, he did not indicate the measure of the radius or when the new regulations would be fully enforced.
EPRA's move was welcomed by stakeholders who noted that such regulations would create order in the industry.
"In as much we are in a free market, it is important that we have some order. There is no need to have five petrol stations in a five-kilometre radius, most investors will lose out," Oryx Energies manager James Ngugi stated.
