Rongo Member of Parliament Paul Abuor has proposed a bill for changes to the Petroleum Act 2019, which would give the government the power to cut fuel prices rapidly when there is an emergency like the current hostile state in the Middle East, for example.
Speaking at Parliament Buildings on Monday, Abuor pointed that the ongoing system for determining the price of fuel reacts very quickly to the rise in the prices of oil in the international market but is very slow to show the changes in the price of fuel at times when the cost of oil on the global level decrease.
Currently, the price charged at the pump is adjusted once every 30 days by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) which is the cycle that the MP says leads to delayed relief for consumers whenever there is a fall in the global prices.
As a solution to this problem, Abuor wants to introduce the notion of an “emergency pricing period” which the Energy Cabinet Secretary, in consultation with EPRA, may declare during times of extreme global market volatility.
According to the new system fuel prices shall be checked every 14 days as opposed to the existing monthly cycle thereby enabling the users to enjoy dropping prices of international fuel at a much faster pace.
Changes also aimed at the proposal to disallow increases to the mid-cycle fuel pricing during such emergency times, hence prices would only be allowed to come down or remain the same until the review period is over.
