Electricity consumers in Kenya, East Africa, will be enjoying a 15 per cent reduction in the cost of electricity by the end of December 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced.
According to the President, a government plan to reduce the cost of electricity by over 30 per cent for the Kenyan people is well on course.
The reduction, he explained, will be implemented in two phases of 15 per cent each.
President Kenyatta, who was speaking last Sunday during the Jamhuri Day Celebrations, said: “In honour of this pledge to the nation and response to the concerns over the high cost of electricity raised by both individual consumers and enterprises, I am pleased to announce to the nation that the reduction of the cost of electricity will be implemented in two tranches of 15 per cent each; with the first 15 per cent achieved through initial actions focusing on system and commercial losses, to be reflected in the December bills, and a further 15 per cent reduction, in the first quarter of 2022.”
The President noted that the Ministry of Energy has already started engagements with Independent Power Producers aimed at renegotiating the initial power purchase agreements.
He called on the power producers to demonstrate goodwill.
Earlier this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta constituted a task force to review Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed with Independent Power Producers in the country.
After receiving the task force report, the President went ahead and appointed a steering committee to implement the recommendations by the task force.
President Uhuru had directed that the recommendations of the presidential task force be implemented on a priority basis.
Part of the recommendations were renegotiations and reviews of PPAs with power producers, where some have been selling electricity up to 35 times more than the cheapest generator—KenGen.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
