- The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) says it has identified homes and businesses that are currently generating more than one Megawatt (MW) of electricity for sale without licences.
- This illegal generation and upon completion of mapping homes and businesses and crackdown, the culprits will pay up to Sh1 million in fines.
EPRA Director-General Daniel Kiptoo said that an increase in commercial deals between developers and businesses has significantly contributed to the number of those illegally generating more than one MW of electricity. In His comment on the Business Daily, He said, “I particularly single out the increase in commercial agreements between developers and commercial customers where proponents are not complying with the law”. Homes and businesses that produce more than one MW of electricity for their own consumption or sale are required to get licences from EPRA in line with Section 117 of the Energy Act of 2019.
The cost of power had surged to sky-high levels in recent years before a 15 per cent tariff cut was effected in January last year lowering electricity prices, and easing pressure on businesses and homes. The reduction has however been reversed and electricity bills are set to rise higher from this month in the absence of billions of shillings from the government that had supported the 15 per cent reduction in what looks set to further fuel the illegal generation of electricity. As a result, consumers also turned to other sources including internal generation or purchasing from other firms to the high unreliability of Kenya Power’s supply
EPRA said, “It has come to the attention of the Authority that there are persons generating electricity for own use exceeding one megawatt without obtaining a licence from the Authority”. The energy regulator has given the homes and businesses three months to apply for licenses failure to which they risk a fine of up to Sh1 million or at least a year in jail or both.