Friday, April 14, 2023 – The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Director General Daniel Kiptoo has remained cagey on whether Kenyans should anticipate lower fuel prices after the government sealed an oil deal with the Gulf states.
While appearing before the Public and Investment Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy, Kiptoo admitted that the regulator did not have control over the matter since a lot of internal and external factors influence pricing.
He noted that EPRA would continue to employ measures that would safeguard Kenyans moving forward.
“As to whether we will see a reprieve in terms of cost. I want to state that because this is a global retailing commodity, we don’t have control over that. I want to assure you that we will continue to work on efficiencies to ensure that Kenyans get a reprieve going forward,” he noted.
“If there’s a gain, we as a regulator will be able to pass the benefits to the common mwananchi. In the event there is a loss, it will be passed through to the consumer,” Kiptoo added.
Among the issues that the David Pkosing-led committee sought to probe included the alleged non-compliance in terms of recruitment of personnel and non-disclosure of donor funding and the issue involved the 2019 contract for the provision of petroleum gas whereby a report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu alleged that the regulator could not account for Ksh7.4 million.
On Friday, April 14, all eyes will be on the regulator as it reviews monthly pump prices, which will remain in place for the next 30 days.
At the moment, super petrol, diesel and kerosene retail at Ksh179.3, Ksh162 and Ksh145.95 per litre respectively in Nairobi.
The first oil acquisition purchased under Government-to-Government deal docked at Mombasa Port yesterday.
The Kenyan DAILY POST.