This archive report was first published on 11 January 2020.
On January 11, 2020, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) announced the development of a new power tariff for manufacturers at the Naivasha Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The tariff is designed to encourage growth of the manufacturing sector by improving competitiveness of goods produced locally.
According to Epra, the special tariff for the Naivasha SEZ will be significantly lower than the current charges. Commercial power users pay between Sh10 and Sh15.60 per unit of electricity, while very heavy industrial power consumers, categorized as C15, pay Sh10.10. However, the basic cost of power is subjected to other costs including government levies and taxes that tend to push up the cost of power.
The Naivasha SEZ already has an anchor investor, with Danish brewer of Turbog and Carlsberg beers planning to invest $45 million (Sh4.5 billion) in a factory in the special economic zone. The firm will produce Tuborg, Carlsberg, Holsten, and Kronenbourg beers, as well as Somersby Cider at the factory.
Access to the SEZ has been made easy by the extension of the standard gauge railway and a Sh6.9 billion inland container depot at Suswa. The government has recently started prepping the zone for investors and has allocated Sh700 million for building water infrastructure.
Additionally, Epra has developed an industrial tariff for firms connected at 220 kilovolts, usually heavy electricity consumers. The new power generating capacity added last year has increased the amount that electricity producers can generate to 2,819 megawatts as of December 2019, up from 2,700MW in 2018.
