Telecommunication companies will have to wait much longer for specialised electricity tariffs after the government maintained that the telcos should ride on the current plan of 50 per cent off during the off-peak periods.
This will now put to bed the push by the telecommunication companies to be granted cheaper tariffs, albeit for the short term.
Appearing before the senate ICT committee, Energy Principal Secretary Alex Wachira said that the regulator has not provided a tariff dedicated to telecommunication companies.
He however noted that KPLC is implementing the Time of Use tariff for SC3 customer category which consists 75.3 percent of the total accounts of the telecommunication companies.
The SC3 category was established for small commercial customers with a monthly consumption of 101-15,000 units.
It is part of a broader effort by Kenya Power to differentiate between various levels of commercial consumption, aiming to provide more tailored pricing and services to businesses of different sizes and consumption levels
Currently this tariff allows a 50 per cent cost reduction for off peak consumption (10pm to 6am on week days and 0000 Hours to 2400 Hours on Sundays and Public Holidays) that meets the required thresholds as per tariff guideline.
“If telecommunications take advantage of this tariff, they will maximize their income. However, the Ministry is open to new ideas and it will look into the possibility of special tariff to cater for telecommunication sector,” said Wachira.
The current electricity power tariffs are primarily based on amount of electricity units consumed per account (meter) per month.
Large industries and high commercial customers needing over one Mega Volt Amperes (MVA) of power are metered at high voltage supply, depending on the available voltage at their location or the voltage needed to meet their capacity requirements.
The telcos had complained that they hardly benefit from discounted night-time power tariffs under the ToU tariff.
The tariff was introduced in December 2017, with firms required to exceed their normal power consumption to benefit from the cheaper rates.
Local telecommunication company Safaricom has in the past few years increased investments in solar in an effort to cut down on electricity costs.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei sought to know from the telcos if they are granted preferential tariffs, whether they will be able to cut on phone charges or money transfer charges.
The firms were non-committal, only saying that any cost-benefit they get is passed to the customer in one way or the other.
Currently the domestic consumers who use between 0 and 30 units make up the largest portion of energy connections in the country, at 7,024, 939.
