During a recent visit by the Cabinet
Minister for Energy, Hon. Charles Keter
to Bamburi Cement factory in Athi River,
we were informed that the company will
be taking up an additional load of 150
MW for their new processing plant.
Things are bound to get better through
creation of additional jobs, expected
reduction in shelf prices for the goods
hence a trickle down to the common
Mwananchi. Other companies which have
adopted the ToU tariff have indicated
that they intend to employ more people
to manage the increase in the night shift.
The aim of the new tariff is not to have
customers shift their production to off-
peak hours but it is designed to stimulate
demand by providing an incentive to
increase production. The discounted
rates are therefore applicable on energy
consumed during defined off-peak hours
above each customer’s daily consumption
during such periods.
As a condition, the benefiting customers
are required to meet their monthly
energy consumption threshold. Any units
consumed over and above that threshold
are billed at the discounted rate of 50%
for energy consumed at off-peak hours.
The threshold will be determined from
the monthly energy consumption of the
previous six consecutive months. This
means that the customer will have to not
only maintain normal production but
increase it and then any production above
what the customer carries out at off-peak
benefits from the discount.
Large
commercial
and
industrial
customers already operating at normal
production capacity levels during both
on-peak and off-peak hours will benefit
from a 5% discount for their off-peak
consumption.
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.
Dr. Ken Tarus, PhD is the Managing
Director and Chief Executive Officer of
Kenya Power.