Reprieve As Cooking Gas Prices Fall

Members of Parliament (MPs) have endorsed a proposal to slash the the Value Added Tax (VAT) on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from 16% to 8%.

The National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning approved the reduction of the tax contained in the Petroleum Products (Taxes and Levies) Amendment Bill, 2021.

“Section 5 of the Value-Added Tax Act, 2013 is amended by in the case of the supply of liquefied petroleum gas, including propane, eight percent,” Kikuyu Member of Parliament Kimani Inchungwah said in the proposals.

LPG dealers had in March increase the prices of cooking gas by an average of 15%.

Following the changes, refilling the 6-kilogramme gas cylinder cost KSh 1,560 up from KSh 900.

On the other hand, a 13-kilogramme was retailing at KSh 3,340 up from KSh 2,990 while a while a 35-kilogramme cooking gas cylinder was sold at KSh 8,760 from KSh 8,191.

LPG is the second most used cooking fuel in Kenya, with 23.9 percent of households, behind firewood that is used by 55.1 percent.

Kenya’s LPG business is mainly controlled by big players, including Total, Vivo, Rubis, Oil Libya and Africa Gas and Oil (AGOL), which owns Proto gas.

Cooking gas prices are not controlled unlike those of petrol, diesel and kerosene.