Apollo Mboya in court to stop new electricity tariffs

Former LSK chief executive Apollo Mboya has moved to court to challenge the new electricity tariffs set by Energy Regulatory Commission saying that they are discriminatory.

Mboya says that the new tariffs structure discriminates a significant majority of the domestic consumers and favors the majority bulk power consumers.

Mboya says that it is only the Manufactures who consume bulk powers that will see a significant savings when they adjust their production plans to use power night when the rest of the country is asleep, power that according to him goes to waste.

“The Energy Act 2006 which the 2nd respondent (ERC) has purported to issue the New Harmonized Tariffs cannot supersede the Constitution provisions,”reads court papers.

According to Mboya, ERC has no constitutional mandate to purport to review the electricity tariffs.

In the case the former LSK chief executive is seeking court orders to stop the implementation of the new tariffs announced early this week.

Mboya is apprehensive that if the court fails to intervene, power costs for middle class households will suffer as the new billing is operational.

The new tariffs are effective from August 1 for prepaid users July 1 for those of post-paid meters.

Mboya argues that under the new tariff poor households that consume less 11-5- kilowatts per month will pay more than before as compared to those who were between 51-51000.

It is his argument that the energy regulator has increased tariffs by more than four times.

He claims that the new tariffs has the effect that for the first 10 units kwh of energy consumed by domestic consumers will now cost Ksh.12 from Ksh.2.5 previously charged and that a consumer will for the first ten units part with Ksh.120 up from Ksh.25 previously.

On Monday the regulator removed the Ksh.150 fixed charge payable to Kenya Power for all electricity meter connections, with the aim of smoothing out billing fluctuations especially for customers on prepaid meters.

In the new tariff plan, homes that consume 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per month will pay 54 per cent more at Ksh.1,067 in August, up from Ksh.695 in July.