Pump prices remain unchanged as Epra retains higher road levy despite court orders

 

The cost of kerosene has reduced marginally while that of super and diesel will remain unchanged for the next one month, according to new pump prices announced by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra).

It is the second consecutive month that Epra has retained the cost of super petrol and diesel at the same levels, halting the reduction in pump prices witnessed for nearly a year.

This Is even as the energy industry regulator continues to disobey court orders by charging motorists a higher Road Maintenance Levy. The high court had suspended the Sh7 per litre increase as a case filed objecting to the hike in the levy is heard and determined.

Following the new price capping guide for the September-October period, kerosene prices will go down by Sh3.43 litre to retail at Sh158.32 in Nairobi. Super petrol will continue to retail at Sh188.84 and diesel, which will also remain unchanged, will cost Sh171.60 a litre in Nairobi.

“In the period under review, the maximum allowed petroleum pump price for super petrol and diesel remains unchanged while the price of kerosene decreases by Sh3.43 per litre,” said Epra when it announced pump prices for the September-October pricing cycle.

“The average landed cost of imported super petrol decreased by 1.53 per cent… in August 2024, diesel decreased by 2.95 per cent… while kerosene decreased by 5.30 per cent.”

In the prices for the next month, Epra has retained the Road Maintenance Levy at Sh25 per litre of petrol and diesel. The higher levy came after the Transport Ministry hiked the levy by Sh7 per litre of diesel and petrol to Sh25 from Sh18 in July. The higher levy came into effect on July 15.

It was however contested in court and the high court ordered the government to stop levying the higher charge Epra has continued to compute pump prices based on the higher levy.

On August 15, Justice Gregory Mutai issued the order temporarily halting the increase, which would have meant that pump prices were to be reduced by Sh7 pending the hearing of a case that had been filed in Mombasa challenging the hike in the levy in July.

George Juma, a Mombasa-based taxi driver, had filed the petition to stop the implementation of the higher roads levy. The petition was supported by Haki Yetu, the human rights lobby, who argued that the increase in the levy was unconstitutional, illegal, unreasonable and harsh.

The High Court in Nairobi also suspended the Sh7 per litre per litre after the Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek)went to Court. The Court suspended implementation of the higher levy until October 7 when the court is expected to give further directions.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), its’ agents, servants or any person acting on its’ behalf, shall not collect the increased levy until 7th October 2024,” said orders issued by the court.

Lowering the roads levy to the old rate of Sh18 per litre would have seen pump prices come down by a significant margin and sustained the drop in retail costs that have significantly dropped over the last year.

The cost of a litre of super petrol has reduced to the current Sh188.84 in Nairobi from the record high of Sh217.36 in November last year, reducing by Sh28.52 litre over the period.

Diesel has reduced by an even bigger margin of Sh33.87 to Sh171.60 per litre from Sh205.47 in October last year while kerosene has gone down by a substantial Sh46.74 per litre to retail at Sh158.32 from Sh205.06 a litre in October last year.

The drop in local pump prices has been on account of a strengthening shilling, which is now Sh130 to the dollar current from the highs of Sh160 seen at the start of the year.

Despite the consistent drop in fuel prices seen throughout this year, consumption of petroleum products dropped over the first six months of this year, continuing the trend that witnessed last year.

The usage of super petrol declined 6.2 per cent to 695,000 metric tonnes over the six months to June this year compared to 742,000 metric tonnes consumed last year, according to data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Consumption of diesel declined 2.66 per cent to 1.07 million tonnes from 1.09 tonnes last year. Kerosene registered the biggest decline, going down 46.9 per cent by 18,180 tonnes over the first half from 38,210 tonnes last year. 

The consumption patterns over the first six months of this year are a continuation of patterns seen last year. According to data by KNBS, consumption of petroleum products declined by nearly a third in 2023. The number of petroleum products imported decreased by 27.6 per cent to 4.3 million tonnes in 2023 (from 5.9 million tonnes in 2022), which signalled a continued shrinking of petroleum demand.