Petroleum Cabinet Secretary John Munyes and his Energy counterpart Charles Keter have been summoned by the Senate to explain the high fuel prices.
Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka said the two cabinet secretaries have to appear in person before the house next week on Tuesday.
This is after Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot raised the issue in the Senate seeking to have the Energy CS and Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) appear before the senate to explain the high cost of petroleum products in the country.
EPRA, on Tuesday, revised upwards the price of super petrol, diesel and kerosene by Sh7.58, Sh7.94 and Sh12.97 per litre respectively.
Epra said the jump in prices was due to the lifting of the stabilisation fund which had cushioned consumers from previous increases.
“The prices are inclusive of the eight per cent value added tax (VAT) in line with the provisions of the Finance Act, 2018, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 2020 and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation as per Legal Notice No. 194 of 2020,” Epra said in a statement.
The regulator said the average cost of imported super petrol decreased by 0.72 per cent from $548.36 per cubic metre in August, diesel decreased by 4.81 per cent from $514.25 per cubic metre to $489.51 per cubic metre while Kerosene increased by 0.96 per cent from $493.45 per cubic metre to $498.19 per cubic metre.
“Over the same period, the mean monthly US Dollar to Kenyan Shilling exchange rate depreciated by 1.11 per cent from Sh108.26 per US$ to Sh109.46 per US$ in August 2021,” it stated.
This increased the price of petrol by Sh7.58 a litre in Nairobi to Sh134.72 while diesel has shot by Sh7.94 to Sh115.6 a litre — the highest in Kenya’s history.
Effectively, a litre of petrol in Nairobi will now cost Sh135 from previous retailing price of Sh127.
The cost of diesel will be Sh116 from Sh108 while kerosene will cost Sh111 from Sh98 per litre respectively.
In March, Munyes who is known of snubbing Senate summons, defended the hike in fuel prices saying that EPRA uses a formula outlined in the Energy (Petroleum Pricing) Regulations of 2010 to calculate the applicable petroleum pump prices.
He said that the computation takes into account the landed costs, supplier margins, government taxes plus storage and distribution costs.
Meanwhile, Matatu Owners Association hinted hiking bus fare following the recent fuel prices review by EPRA with some routes having already adjusted the fares.
