Ministry chiefs summoned over historic fuel price surge
Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka has summoned Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretaries Charles Keter and John Munyes to appear before the Energy Committee on Tuesday next week as public uproar heightens following the sudden surge of fuel prices.
In the latest price review, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority increased the price of super petrol by roughly Kes8, leaving the price of the commodity at historic high of over Kes130 per litre in Nairobi.
The energy regulator dropped subsidies of Kes7.10 on super petrol, Kes9.90 on diesel and Kes11.36 on kerosene that were in place cushioning consumers from high energy prices up to September 14.
“The stabilisation process for the pump prices has not been effected in the current pricing cycle,” Epra director-general Daniel Kiptoo said on Tuesday.
Read also: Lucky break for Turkana SMEs as IFC opens financing taps
At the moment, motorists in Nairobi and its environs are paying an historic price of Kes134.72 per litre of petrol while diesel has increased by Kes7.94 to Sh115.6 a litre.
Since March, the energy regulator has been tapping the fuel price stabilization fund to put on hold the spiraling of fuel prices despite the lack of regulations to operate the scheme as the government desperately went out to keep the cost of living on short leash.
The latest sharp increase in the prices of fuel is set to cause ripple effects across the industry as it is set to negatively impact on the cost of transport.
In August, inflation went up, hitting 6.57 per cent attributable to marginal rises in food and energy costs.
