Fuel prices will remain unchanged for the month of December, offering Kenyans a slight relief as they head into the Christmas season filled with long-distance travel.
In its latest fuel price review, the Energy& Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) said the prices of super petrol, diesel and kerosene will remain the same until January 14, when the next review is due.
In Nairobi, a litre of petrol will continue to retail at KES 177.30, while a litre of diesel will retail at KES 162.00.
The energy regulator noted that the diesel price has been cross-subsidized with that of super petrol.
Cross-subsidization is when a marketer charges higher prices to a group of consumers in order to subsidise lower prices for another group.
In this case, it means petrol users will pay a higher price so as to ensure diesel users have a lower price.
A litre of kerosene will continue to retail at KES 145.94, with the government maintaining a KES 25.07 subsidy on the commodity to cushion consumers from the otherwise high prices.
“The Government will utilise the Petroleum Development Levy to compensate oil marketing companies for the difference in cost,” said EPRA.
In Mombasa, a litre of petrol will retail at KES 174.98, diesel at KES 159.76 and kerosene at KES 143.69, while in Kisumu, a litre of petrol will retail at KES 177.50, diesel at KES 162.70, kerosene at KES 146.66.
The fuel prices are inclusive of the 8 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.
The energy regulator maintained the fuel prices despite a slight increase in the landing cost of the commodities.
The average landed cost of imported Super Petrol increased by 2.65 per cent from USD686.05 per cubic metre in October 2022 to USD704.21 per cubic metre in November 2022; Diesel increased by 6.56 per cent from USD863.81 per cubic metre to USD920.44 per cubic metre.
Further, the landing cost of Kerosene increased by 6.01 per cent from USD803.06 per cubic metre to USD851.31 per cubic metre.
Read also; EPRA Reduces Fuel Prices by KES 1 in Latest Review.
