The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has cut retail tariffs for big power consumers from Ksh10.10 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to Kshh7.99, a 20.8 percent fall.
Industrial operators in Special Economic Zones close to the Naivasha standard gauge railway (SGR) station will however get electricity at a more cheaper price of Ksh5 per kWh, from the current rate of Ksh10.10 and Ksh12.
Retail tariffs for domestic, commercial and small industrialists will however remain the same at Ksh10 per kWh.
Kenya Power has been pushing the regulator to review the tariffs upwards following reduced profitability.
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In September last year, Kenya Power announced an expected drop in its net earnings for the financial year ended June 30, 2019.
The power distributor said its profits are projected to decline by more than 25 per cent of the net earnings reported for the same period last year.
“The Board of Directors of Kenya Power wishes to inform its shareholders, potential investors and the general public that the company’s net profit for the financial year ended June 30, 2019, are projected to decline by more than 25 per cent of the net earnings reported last year,” said Kenya Power Acting Managing Director Jared Othieno in the statement approved by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
According to the power distributor, the drop in profits is attributable to among others, an increase in non-fuel costs in line with the company’s long-term strategy of growing cheaper and cleaner renewable energy.
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Even so, inefficiencies continue to haunt the monopoly in spite of growing operational revenues and electricity sales.
Kenya Power had similarly issued a profit warning in 2018 before posting a 64 percent dip in earnings in the 2017 financial year to Ksh1.9 billion in spite of growing revenues marginally by 4.2 percent to Ksh125.8 billion.
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