An attendant at a fuel filling station./FILEThe Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has retained fuel pump prices for the December-January cycle, a relief for consumers as the country heads into the Christmas-New Year festivities.
A litre of petrol will continue retailing at SH184.52 in Nairobi until January 14 when the next review will be done, even as the landed cost of the product decreased by 4.25 per cent from $619.14 per cubic metre in October to $592.84.
Diesel, widely used in the transport, agriculture and manufacturing sectors will retail at Sh171.47 per litre while kerosene will go for and Sh154.78, respectively.
Mombasa has the cheapest products at Sh181.24, Sh168.19 and Sh151.49 per litre of petrol, diesel and kerosene, respectively, owing to proximity to the port of entry.
The prices of diesel and kerosene remain the same despite an increase in landed costs which went up to $654.24 per cubic metre and 667.05 per cubic metre respectively.
“In the period under review, the maximum allowed petroleum pump prices remain unchanged,” EPRA director general Daniel Kiptoo said in a statement.
“The prices are inclusive of the 16 per cent Value Added Tax in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2023, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2024 and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation.”
December last year prices were at Sh176.29 for a litre of petrol in Nairobi, Sh165.06 for diesel while kerosene was at the time retailing at Sh148.39 per litre.
The prices slightly went down in September this year by Sh0.79, Sh0.11 and Sh0.80 per litre of petrol, diesel and kerosene, respectively, and remained unchanged in October and November.
This, even as consumers continue to pay at least nine taxes at the pump to fund government projects, with the Road Maintenance Levy, VAT and excise duty accounting for the biggest share of taxes.
Road Maintenance Levy is currently at Sh25 on a litre of petrol and diesel, VAT is at Sh25.45 per litre of petrol, Sh23.65 on diesel and Sh21.35 on a litre of kerosene which is widely used for cooking and lighting in poor homes.
This is up when compared to Sh24.32 per litre of petrol, Sh22.77 on diesel and Sh20.44 on a litre of kerosene, which was the VAT rate same period last year.
Excise duty is at Sh21.95 on petrol and Sh11.37 for diesel and kerosene. Other taxes and levis include petroleum development levy, petroleum regulatory levy, railway development levy, anti-adulteration levy, merchant shipping levy and import declaration fee.
The government takes Sh81.88 from every litre of petrol sold, Sh69.86 on a litre of diesel and Sh55.67 from every litre of kerosene sold at the pump.
Distribution and storage costs, Oil Marketing Companies’ margins push up the final pump prices, from an initial product cost of Sh77.80 for petrol as of the latest data, Sh85.57 for diesel and Sh86.61 for kerosene.
Fuel costs are major drivers of the economy and an increase could have triggered fare prices this December, with inflation also being affected.
