Epra makes marginal hike on pipeline tariff, piles pressure on consumers

Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi and Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen addressing the media at Harambee House in Nairobi on May 19, 2026. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) has increased the cost of using the pipeline to transport fuel from the Kenyan coast to the rest of the country. 

Epra, in a public notice last Friday, said the Kenya Pipeline Company’s tariff for the three years to July 2028. The energy regulator said the KPC pipeline tariff would go up beginning July 15 to Sh5.53 per cubic metre per kilometre (m3/km) and further to Sh5.83 in July 2027 from the current Sh5.44. 

And while the baseline pipeline tariff for the current period that ends July 14 has remained flat at Sh5.44, there was a marginal increase in the cost of a litre of fuel at the pump since April 15 on account of higher landed cost. This resulted in the cost of super going up by 32 cents, diesel (38 cents), and kerosene (36 cents). 

While marginal, the hike in the pipeline and storage tariff comes after a series of increases in different components of the pump prices, adding pressure to consumers. 

“The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority has reviewed and approved the applicable Kenya Pipeline Company’s (KPC) multi-year pipeline transport tariff for the tariff control period 2025/2026–2027/2028. 

“The effective date of the above set of tariffs is April 15, and subsequent adjustments for the next tariff control period will be on July 15 of every year.” 

KPC had applied for the tariff in October last year. The company had proposed a tariff of Sh5.57 per m3/km, which has been moderated to Sh5.53 in the approved tariff for 2026/2027, while leaving the 2025/26 charges frozen.  

Every three years, KPC applies for a review of its pipeline transportation and secondary storage tariffs to cover the cost of operating its network of pipelines and fuel depots.  

The increase in the pipeline and storage tariff comes after a series of increases in different components of the pump price.

Last year, Epra increased the margins for oil marketing companies by Sh5 per litre. This had been preceded by the Sh7 hike in the Road Maintenance Levy in July 2024, the doubling of Value Added Tax on fuel to 16 per cent in 2023, and the increase in the regulatory levy to 75 cents from 25 cents per litre.

VAT has temporarily been halved to eight per cent to enable Kenyans to cope with the high cost of fuel that has been on account of the US invasion of Iran.  

The hikes in taxes, levies, and OMC margins since 2023 have resulted in an increase in fuel prices by Sh12 per litre.  

The Institute of Economic Affairs has, in the pat raised concerns about piecemeal increments in different components of the pricing formula that, however, end up being significant over time, cautioning that it is becoming a new normal in the country. 

“Over the past two years, Kenya’s fuel pricing structure has undergone a series of notable shifts, with each one quietly adding weight to the final pump price. These incremental adjustments are shaping a new normal in Kenya’s fuel pricing and deserve a closer look,” said IEA in a recent analysis of the fuel pricing regime in Kenya.  

“All else being equal, the price of a litre of petroleum product has risen by a fixed amount of approximately Sh12 per litre over the past two years.”