Kenyans will not be able to exchange their empty cylinders for refilled ones of different brands at their local dealerships following the abolition of the LPG Cylinder exchange pool.
In documents filed in court, activist Okiya Omtatah said the impugned new regulations are discriminatory against both the consumer and independent refills whose activities have helped make the Kenyan LPG market very competitive.
On August 7, the government printer published the petroleum (Liquefied petroleum gas) regulations 2019. Under the regulations, LPG dealers have now been banned from handling cylinders that belong to other brand owners. It will also not be mandatory for LPG retailers to swap any brand of cylinder
This means that consumers will no longer have the convenience of buying cooking gas at their neighborhood kiosk or the nearest petrol station because they will not be able to exchange their cylinders for different brands at their local dealer.
Omtatah in his court documents has sued CS Petroleum and Mining, Energy and petroleum regulatory authority and the attorney general.
His application seeks to suspend the CS decision to infringe the consumers’ legitimate interest in the freedom to refill and reuse their liquid petroleum gas (LPG) (cooking gas) cylinders without being forced to return to brand owners for refills.
Also sought is an order suspending the new Petroleum regulations 2019.
Omtatah says the new regulations provide that while acquiring cylinders, consumers will pay a refundable deposit. "The regulations are silent on the relationship between the deposit amount charged by brand owners for empty cylinders and the market price of the cylinders,"
This he says leaves a loophole for brand owners to exploit consumers by selling the cylinders at the market rate, or even higher, without transferring ownership to the buyers.
It's Omtatah’s contention that regulations 26 (1) and (2) of the new regulations is unconstitutional to the extent that it purports to vest ownership of gas cylinders even after sale to the brand owners and not to the purchaser.
Regulation 32 of the new rules repeal the energy (Liquefied petroleum gas) regulations 2009 and Omtatah suggests that the abolition of the LPG cylinder exchange pool constitutes the advancement of unfair trade practices by the CS and the Authority.
The abolished LPG Cylinder exchange pool was created in 2009 to enable and it enabled consumers to trade their empty gas cylinders at any outlet without regard to the brand of their cylinder.
He says he conducted some research and he is aggrieved that on average, the lowest amounts charged by LPG brand owners as cylinder deposits at Sh2,600 for a 6kg cylinder and Sh4,200 for a 13kg cylinder are way above the market price of imported brand new empty cylinder.
“It is wrong to punish innocent consumers and other stakeholders in the name of reigning in rogue independent liquefied petroleum gas cylinders refillers. Other than abolishing the LPG Cylinder exchange pool there are less restrictive means to achieve the purpose of reigning in illegal and unsafe cross-refilling of LPG cylinders by independent refillers,” says Omtatah.
Omtatah claims that the new regulations add no value to the regulation of the LPG sector and consumers should be at liberty to have his or her gas cylinder refilled by any qualified and licensed refiller irrespective of the brand.
According to the court documents, the regulations were also voided due to the CS’s failure to submit them to parliament for scrutiny and approval.
“The impugned requirements will knock most local businesses out of the LPG market leaving it for multinationals to dominate, and put the consumers at a disadvantage as was the case before the repealed regulations came into force,” he said.
