850 firms large power consumers benefit from tariff discount

Large power consumers will have to meet set electricity consumption targets to benefit from the government’s move to lower electricity costs.

According to Kenya Power, the time of use tariff introduced last year is aimed at spurring production by manufactures rather than having them shift production hours to the evenings.

Kenya Power managing director Ken Tarus said the firm would work out a six month average of power consumption to set the threshold manufactures will have to attain.

“The discounted rates will therefore be applicable on energy consumed during defined off-peak hours above each customer’s daily consumption during such periods,” Mr Tarus said in an opinion piece.

The time of use tariff gives discounts to large power consumers to operate between 10pm and 6am when power consumption is at its lowest.

Mr Tarus said 850 large power customers from the electricity discount in January up from 804 companies in December.

In the night-time tariffs, commercial users who are metered at between 450 volts and 11 kilovolts pay Sh4.60 per unit, down from Sh9.20.

To further incentives production, Kenya Power has announced it will introduce a 50 percent discount on electricity to consumers who go above their set threshold.

“Whereas large power consumers will benefit from decreased production costs, the 50% reduction of tariffs during off-peak hours will also help in efficient utilization of power generated during low energy demand periods,” he said.