NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 4 – The Kenya Power Company has warned that power bills could rise 30 percent if the utility firm pays counties wayleave charges.

Speaking during a meeting with the Editors Guild Tuesday, the firm’s Managing Director Joseph Siror stated that the charges will end up being passed to the customer.

“Kenya Power has over 319,000 kilometres of power lines across all 47 counties. The introduction of wayleaves on power lines will impact retail tariffs. Under the proposal to charge wayleaves on electricity infrastructure at a cost of Sh200 per meter, this translates into Sh63.8 billion per year. This is approximately 30% of the energy sector’s revenue requirements which must be recovered from the monthly electricity bills,” he stated.

He indicated that electricity will become unaffordable to a majority of Kenyans.

“Section 223 of the Energy Act 2019 prohibits any public entity from charging levies on public energy infrastructure without regulatory approval,” he said.

Sorir stated that the strengthening of the shilling has resulted in lower pass-through costs to customers, including forex and fuel costs, which are heavily dependent on the prevailing dollar exchange rate.

“This has added to the gains from the decline in the base energy cost following a review of the electricity tariff in April 2023 which put in place a three-year tariff that provides for a lower cost per unit, starting in July of each of the three years. So far, the base tariff has declined from KShs. 19.04 per unit in 2023 to the current KShs. 17.94,” he said.