Electricity costs in Kenya

Below is a summary of current and historic electricity prices in Kenya. It was last updated in January 2012.

Core tariffs

These are the core tariffs set by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company. They do not change frequently. See below for the additional (and quite substantial) variable surcharges.

Tariff	Charges (KES)
	Fixed charge	Energy charge (per kWh)	Demand charge (per kVA)
DC (Domestic)	120	First 50kWh:2.00 50 to 1 500kWh:8.10 Thereafter:18.57	n/a
SC (Small Commercial)	120	8.96	n/a
CI1 (Commercial, 415V)	800	5.75	600
CI2 (Commercial, 11kV)	2 500	4.73	400
CI3 (Commercial, 33kV)	2 900	4.49	200
CI4 (Commercial, 66kV)	4 200	4.25	170
CI5 (Commercial, 415V)	11 000	4.10	170
IT (Domestic water heating)	120	4.85	n/a

Surcharges

Presently, the surcharges cost more than the base rate itself. They are applied on all tariffs as follows.

Surcharge	Rate / Notes
Fuel Cost Charge (FCC)	Variable rate per kWh, published monthly by KPLC in the Kenya Gazette (but not on their website!). It is supposed to be reflective of the cost (to KPLC) of generating electricity during the previous month.
Foreign Exchange Rate Fluctuation Adjustment (FERFA)	Variable rate per kWh, published monthly by KPLC. This includes the “sum of the foreign currency costs incurred by KenGen”, the “sum of the foreign currency costs incurred by [KPLC] other than those costs relating to Electric Power Producers”, and the “sum of the foreign currency costs incurred by KenGen”.
Inflation Adjustment (IA)	Variable rate per kWh, published monthly by KPLC. Factors include the “Underlying Consumer Price Index as posted by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics” and the “Consumer Prices Index for all urban consumers (CPI - U) for the US city average for all items 1982 - 84 as published by the United States Department of Labour Statistics”. Why on earth does the cost of Kenyan electricity depend on how much folks in the USA are spending?
ERC Levy	3 cents per kWh
REP Levy	5% of the base rate
VAT	12% on everything except the ERC and REP levies and Inflation Adjustment

The rates that vary monthly are, then, the FCC , the FERFA, and the IA. Their variation is charted below. These data are taken from our monthly electricity bills. Please verify it directly with KPLC if it is important to you.

Period	Rates (cents/kWh)
	FCC	FERFA	IA
Nov 2008	654	37	0
Dec 2008	559	37	0
Jan 2009	416	90	0
Feb 2009	427	63	5
Mar 2009	410	46	5
Apr 2009	392	93	5
May 2009	436	63	5
Jun 2009	468	62	5
Jul 2009	539	67	5
Aug 2009	616	75	5
Sep 2009	743	59	5
Oct 2009	775	91	5
Nov 2009	790	98	5
Dec 2009	722	40	5
Jan 2010	783	94	8
Feb 2010	674	53	8
Mar 2010	749	56	8
Apr 2010	672	72	8
May 2010	498	41	8
Jun 2010	350	81	8
Jul 2010	318	85	10
Aug 2010	349	57	10
Sep 2010	333	76	10
Oct 2010	338	79	10
Nov 2010	419	64	10
Dec 2010	418	72	10
Jan 2011	382	82	9
Feb 2011	467	71	9
Mar 2011	573	64	9
Apr 2011	615	126	9
May 2011	711	81	9
Jun 2011	715	138	9
Jul 2011	723	119	17
Aug 2011	791	127	17
Sep 2011	821	148	17
Oct 2011	840	274	17
Nov 2011	903	262	17
Dec 2011	850	149	17
Jan 2012	548	138	22

Below is a chart of the average cost of electricity for each tariff, worked out from all the costs described above. It is an estimate of what you can expect to pay on your monthly electricity usage per kWh, excluding fixed and demand charges. The DC cost is based on the 50-1500kWh usage band.

Period	Average electricity cost (KES/kWh)
	DC	SC	CI1	CI2	CI3	CI4	CI5	IT
Nov 2008	17.25	17.94	14.5	13.3	13.02	12.74	12.57	13.44
Dec 2008	16.18	16.87	13.43	12.24	11.96	11.68	11.5	12.38
Jan 2009	15.17	15.86	12.42	11.23	10.95	10.67	10.49	11.37
Feb 2009	15.05	15.74	12.3	11.1	10.82	10.54	10.37	11.24
Mar 2009	14.66	15.35	11.91	10.72	10.44	10.16	9.98	10.86
Apr 2009	14.99	15.68	12.24	11.05	10.77	10.48	10.31	11.19
May 2009	15.15	15.84	12.4	11.2	10.92	10.64	10.47	11.34
Jun 2009	15.49	16.18	12.74	11.55	11.27	10.99	10.81	11.69
Jul 2009	16.34	17.03	13.59	12.4	12.12	11.84	11.66	12.54
Aug 2009	17.3	17.99	14.55	13.35	13.07	12.79	12.62	13.49
Sep 2009	18.54	19.23	15.79	14.6	14.32	14.03	13.86	14.74
Oct 2009	19.26	19.95	16.51	15.31	15.03	14.75	14.58	15.45
Nov 2009	19.5	20.19	16.75	15.56	15.28	15	14.82	15.7
Dec 2009	18.09	18.78	15.34	14.15	13.87	13.59	13.41	14.29
Jan 2010	19.41	20.1	16.66	15.47	15.19	14.9	14.73	15.61
Feb 2010	17.73	18.42	14.98	13.79	13.51	13.22	13.05	13.93
Mar 2010	18.6	19.29	15.85	14.66	14.38	14.1	13.92	14.8
Apr 2010	17.92	18.61	15.17	13.98	13.7	13.42	13.24	14.12
May 2010	15.62	16.31	12.87	11.68	11.4	11.12	10.94	11.82
Jun 2010	14.41	15.1	11.66	10.47	10.19	9.91	9.73	10.61
Jul 2010	14.12	14.81	11.37	10.18	9.9	9.62	9.44	10.32
Aug 2010	14.15	14.84	11.4	10.21	9.93	9.65	9.47	10.35
Sep 2010	14.19	14.88	11.44	10.24	9.96	9.68	9.51	10.39
Oct 2010	14.28	14.97	11.53	10.33	10.05	9.77	9.6	10.47
Nov 2010	15.02	15.71	12.27	11.07	10.79	10.51	10.34	11.21
Dec 2010	15.1	15.79	12.35	11.15	10.87	10.59	10.42	11.29
Jan 2011	14.79	15.48	12.04	10.85	10.57	10.29	10.11	10.99
Feb 2011	15.62	16.31	12.87	11.68	11.4	11.12	10.94	11.82
Mar 2011	16.73	17.42	13.98	12.79	12.51	12.23	12.05	12.93
Apr 2011	17.9	18.59	15.15	13.95	13.67	13.39	13.22	14.09
May 2011	18.47	19.16	15.72	14.52	14.24	13.96	13.79	14.66
Jun 2011	19.15	19.84	16.4	15.21	14.93	14.65	14.47	15.35
Jul 2011	19.11	19.8	16.36	15.16	14.88	14.6	14.43	15.3
Aug 2011	19.96	20.65	17.21	16.02	15.73	15.45	15.28	16.16
Sep 2011	20.53	21.22	17.78	16.59	16.31	16.03	15.85	16.73
Oct 2011	22.15	22.84	19.4	18.21	17.93	17.65	17.47	18.35
Nov 2011	22.73	23.42	19.98	18.78	18.5	18.22	18.05	18.92
Dec 2011	20.87	21.56	18.12	16.92	16.64	16.36	16.19	17.06
Jan 2012	17.41	18.1	14.66	13.47	13.19	12.91	12.73	13.61