[KPLC] Electricity cost in Kenya—Stima Tracker

The data used are taken from a combination of official sources and monthly electricity bills. We strive to ensure the accuracy of the values, using multiple real bills for verification but do not provide any guarantee and urge you to verify directly with KPLC if a specific value is important to you.

The following sections describe the details of the different tariffs and charges used in the calculator.

Cost per kWh

The graph below shows how the typical cost of electricity per kWh has changed. The graph excludes fixed and demand charges. Domestic (DC) cost is based on the >100kWh usage band. A table of historic cost per kWh is also available.

Tariff structure

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.

The current schedule of tariffs is effective from April 2023. Historic tariffs are available here.

Tariff	Charges (KES)
	Energy charge (per kWh)	Demand charge (per kVA)
DC (Domestic - Lifeline 0-30, 240 V) For average consumption below 30kWh	12.22	n/a
DC1 (Domestic - Lifeline 31-100, 240 V) For average consumption between 31kWh and 10kWh	16.30	n/a
DC2 (Domestic, 240 V) and IT (Domestic water heating) For average consumption over 100kWh	20.97	n/a
SC1 (Small Commercial 1, 240 V) For average consumption below 30kWh	12.22	n/a
SC2 (Small Commercial 2, 240 V) For average consumption between 31kWh and 100kWh	16.40	n/a
SC2 (Small Commercial 3, 240 V) For average consumption above 100kWh	Regular: 20.18 TOU: 10.09	n/a
CI1 (Commercial, 415 V)	Regular: 14.70 TOU: 7.35	1,100
CI2 (Commercial, 11 kV)	Regular: 13.24 TOU: 6.62	700
CI3 (Commercial, 33 kV)	Regular: 12.66 TOU: 6.33	370
CI4 (Commercial, 66 kV)	Regular: 12.40 TOU: 6.20	300
CI5 (Commercial, 132 kV)	Regular: 12.12 TOU: 6.06	300
CI6 (Commercial) / CI7 (Special Economic Zone)	Regular: 10.00 TOU: 7.42	200

Time of Use Tariffs

Time of Use (TOU) tariffs are available to "eligible customers". I have found no information in the public domain to explain who eligible customers are.

Surcharges

Surcharges 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 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, sum of the foreign currency costs incurred by KPLC other than those costs relating to Electric Power Producer, 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 the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and the Consumer price 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. We are not certain why the cost of Kenyan electricity depends on how much folks in the USA are spending.
WARMA Levy	Variable rate per kWh, published monthly by KPLC. It is determined from the amount of energy supplied from hydroelectric facilities in the previous month.
ERC Levy	3 cents per kWh
REP Levy	5% of the base rate
Power Factor Surcharge	A surcharge applied if the consumer's power factor falls below 0.9. The surcharge applied is 2% of the base rate and the demand charge for every 1 per cent by which the Power Factor is below 0.9.
VAT	16% on-demand charge, fuel energy cost, and non-fuel energy cost. (Prior to 2 September 2013, consumption less than 200kWh was exluded from VAT, and VAT was charged at 12%. These concessions were removed in the VAT Act 2013.)

The surcharges that vary monthly are FCC, the FERFA, the IA, and the WARMA Levy.

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