Motorists will continue paying the current pump prices for the next one month as the government continues to deploy the petroleum stabilization mechanism to hold off further fuel cost increases.

Motorists in the capital Nairobi will pay Kes129.72 for a litre of petrol while diesel will cost Kes110.60 as Kerosene retails at Kes103.54 per litre.

Consumers in Mandera will pay the most at Kes142.75 per litre of petrol, Kes123.64 per litre of diesel and Kes116.58 for a litre of Kerosene.

Whereas the actual prices for the commodities went up, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) said it will tap funds from Petroleum Development Levy to cushion consumers from increases in prices.

In September last year, the Treasury diverted Kes18.1 billion from the fuel levy to offset SGR costs causing a sudden surge in pump prices that saw heightened calls to eliminate the taxes slapped on fuel imports.

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EPRA has since last year squeezed margins for oil marketing firms in order to keep prices within reach of millions of consumers.

Interestingly, the government has failed to honour its offer to compensate oil marketing companies sparking disquiet in the industry.

Documents Business Daily reveal that oil marketing companies were paid Kes1.753 billion for two oil shipments in the November-December period and the Treasury is yet to wire compensation funds for two other shipments.

Product	Actual Calculated Prices in Jan 2022 (Kes/Ltr)	Published prices in  Jan 2022 (Kes/Ltr)	Difference to be compensated out of PDL (Kes/Ltr)
Super Petrol	144.47	129.72	+14.75
Diesel	128.44	110.60	+17.84
Kerosene	123.77	103.54	+20.23

In the period, the prices of fuel were affected by the tanking value of the Kenya Shilling against the US dollar with the mean monthly exchange of the local unit to the greenback shedding 0.72 percent to Kes113.14 by December 2021.

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