Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum in a joint press conference with Energy Regulatory Commission, January 8, 2018. [Photo|ERC]The Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Charles Keter, held a joint press conference with Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Director General, Pavel Oimeke, Kengen CEO, Rebecca Miano and KPLC CEO Dr. Ken Tarus on Monday.During the press conference, Keter and ERC chiefs categorically stated that:1. There is no backdating of electricity bills for customers neither is there change in tariffs. 2. There are cases of billing fluctuation following an upgrade in billing systems by KPLC, which are being resolved on a case by case basis.3. The Fuel Cost Charge (FCC), a cost computed every month from the actual fuel consumed to generate electricity, has remained fairly stable between 2015 and 2017 despite variations in international prices of crude oil, low dam levels and fluctuations in foreign exchange.4. The FCC is at 4.35/kwh since November 2017. To mitigate against any sharp increases in the FCC, ERC in consultation with energy stakeholders among them Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Kenya Association of Manufacturers, the Kenya Power & Lighting Company and KenGen Kenya agreed to keep the FCC at a set cost.5. If the FCC is above the set cost the charge to customers is maintained at the set cost and any amount not recovered by KPLC is recovered in subsequent months when FCC falls lower than the set cost.6. Deliberate and collective efforts to reduce electricity prices are being undertaken with the recent development being introduction of Time of Use (TOU) tariffs by effective Dec 2017.7. The TOUs tariffs initiative has seen the reduction of tariffs during off peak hours by 50% for large power consumers above applicable consumption thresholds.

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