The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA)’s approval of a fixed electricity tariff running until the 2025/26 financial year raised hopes that power bills would finally stop changing.
Many households expected that if the main electricity charge stayed the same, their monthly bills would also remain steady, making it easier to plan household budgets.
However, figures in EPRA’s Biannual Energy & Petroleum Statistics Report for the 2025/26 financial year show that electricity bills have continued to rise and fall. The reason is that the fixed tariff covers only part of the bill.
For households that use more than 100 units of electricity a month, the biggest group of domestic consumers, the base tariff, made up only about two‑thirds of the total bill in December 2025. The rest came from extra charges and taxes that are adjusted every month.
EPRA Explains What A “Fixed Tariff” Means
EPRA approved the current base tariff in March 2023, covering the period up to the 2025/26 financial year. This base tariff covers the basic costs of producing electricity, transmitting it through power lines, distributing it to homes, and operating the power utility.
For large domestic consumers, this base charge stood at KSh 18.57 per unit in December 2025, and it had remained unchanged for several months. On its own, this part of the bill was stable.
Once power is delivered to homes, extra charges are added to cover costs that cannot be fixed in advance. These additional costs are what cause electricity bills to change from month to month.
Inflation adjustments, along with government taxes and levies
According to the Authority, these charges can raise electricity bills even when the base tariff stays the same.
In December 2025, households in this group paid about KSh 4.55 per unit in extra charges and KSh 4.67 per unit in taxes. When these were added to the base tariff, the total electricity cost was KSh 27.65 per unit. This is why power bills continued to rise or fall, even though the main electricity charge did not change.
How Global Events Affect Your Power Bill
When rainfall is low, hydropower production goes down, forcing the country to rely more on fuel‑powered plants to meet electricity demand, a situation that also occurs when demand rises sharply.
Plants run on diesel or heavy fuel oil, both of which are expensive, and the cost of using this fuel is passed on to consumers through the fuel cost charge on electricity bills.
This was seen in 2025, when the fuel charge stood at KSh 2.99 per unit in August but rose to KSh 3.81 per unit in November, showing increased use of fuel‑based power during that period.
Exchange rate also affects electricity prices, since many power contracts and loans are denominated in US dollars. A weaker shilling raises the cost of these payments, which is then passed on to consumers through the foreign exchange charge.
In July 2025, this charge rose to KSh 1.77 per unit as the shilling came under pressure. By December, as the currency stabilised, it had fallen to KSh 0.68 per unit.
For households that use a lot of electricity, that difference alone can add or remove hundreds of shillings from the monthly bill.
Even the water levy, though relatively small, changes with rainfall because it depends on how much hydropower is produced.
What This Means For Consumers
EPRA says electricity bills remain hard to predict because a large share of what households pay varies from month to month. In December 2025, nearly one‑third of the bill for heavy‑use households came from charges linked to fuel prices, exchange rates, inflation, and weather things consumers have no control over.
The pricing system is designed this way so the power sector can cope when fuel prices rise, or the shilling weakens. If all electricity costs were fixed, power companies would be forced to revise tariffs frequently whenever conditions changed.
Under the current system, the main electricity charge stays the same, but extra costs rise or fall depending on economic conditions and the weather. This means electricity bills can still increase or decrease even when household power use remains unchanged.
Electricity bills continue to be affected by global fuel prices, changes in the value of the shilling, and weather conditions because Kenya depends heavily on imported fuel, on loans taken in foreign currency, and on power sources that rely on rainfall.
This means power costs can rise or fall even when the electricity tariff itself is fixed.
Mary Wanjohi is a digital news correspondent at The Kenya Times driven by a deep commitment to truth, storytelling, and public service. With a background in Communication and Journalism, she has developed a strong foundation in news reporting, feature writing, and investigative research. Mary is passionate about uncovering stories that matter from community issues and social justice to politics and culture. She approaches every assignment with curiosity, integrity, and a dedication to accuracy. Her work reflects a belief that journalism is not just about reporting facts, but about giving voice to the voiceless and holding power to account. She can be reached at [email protected]
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
