Informal sellers have helped distribute the gas in 13kg and 6kg cylinders in neighbourhoods offering convenience unlike mainstream oil marketers who only stock them at petrol stations. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
A 13-kilogramme gas cylinder was retailing at an average Sh2,343.86 in January, down from Sh2,369.46 in December.
Gas has slowly become the preferred energy source for households due to its convenience and does not generate soot.
Cooking gas prices dropped to a four-and-a-half year low last month because of cheaper crude oil costs as charcoal users continued to dig deeper into their pockets.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that a 13-kilogramme gas cylinder was retailing at an average Sh2,343.86 in January, down from Sh2,369.46 in December.
Lower and middle income households which use charcoal will however continue paying more as the price of a four kilogramme tin rose to Sh78.82, the highest since KNBS started making public monthly prices of the commodity in 2007.
The drop in gas prices comes as the government prepares to hold a stakeholders meeting next month to decide on how to make it easier for lower income households to start using gas.
“The key thing is we are planning to relook at models on how to make access to gas cylinders easier,” Joseph Ng’ang’a, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) director-general said.
“We will be discussing how we to improve on gas uptake to replace the use of kerosene as a fuel.” The January gas price was the lowest since June 2011 when the same cylinder was retailing at Sh2,328 and reflects the effect of the drop in crude oil prices and vicious competition among retailers.
The price of the 13kg cylinder has dropped by Sh607 (20.5 per cent) over the last one year.
The drop will further ease the strain on household budgets for middle and upper income households who are also enjoying low petrol and electricity prices.
Prices of other petroleum products such as petrol, kerosene and diesel have also gone down in tandem with cheaper crude.
Gas prices are not regulated by the ERC unlike the other petroleum fuels and has been left to market forces. The Commission has said price controls for gas cannot happen until new regulations are included in the Energy Act.
Gas has slowly become the preferred energy source for households due to its convenience and does not generate soot.
Informal sellers have helped distribute the gas in 13kg and 6kg cylinders in neighbourhoods offering convenience unlike mainstream oil marketers who only stock them at petrol stations.
Oil marketers have been pushing for more rigorous checks on unlicensed gas operators, whom they accuse of undercutting through irregular refilling.
Through the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA), the marketers claimed last August that seven out of 10 gas cylinders in the market are illegally refilled, posing a danger to users.
Crude oil prices which had dropped below US$30 have since climbed above this amount following a deal by major oil producers to trim their output but a huge supply glut is still growing, keeping the prices just above US$30.
Cooking gas, also known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is one of the products derived during the refining of crude oil.
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