Kenya plans to subsidise the cost of cooking gas cylinders to promote safer sources of energy to households.

The government says it intends to promote liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as the preferred alternative source of energy for cooking, replacing kerosene, charcoal and firewood, which are used by 87 per cent of Kenyans.

The Treasury has provided $200 million in this year’s budget to roll out the subsidies and the Ministry of Energy is exploring the most effective way of doing so.

“The government, through the Ministry of Energy will procure 6kg cylinders to be supplied at a subsidised cost to consumers through state-owned National Oil Corporation to boost use of LPG,” said Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau.

The programme targets five million cylinders in three years, increasing the per capita consumption from 2.8kg per year to 5kg per year. 

Mr Kamau said the subsidy programme will be foolproof so that the cylinders are not smuggled to neighbouring countries. 

The cylinders with grill and burner costs $55 in the open market and the government intends to supply them at $17 each. The high acquisition costs for cylinders are blamed for the low usage of LPG across the East African region.

The per capita consumption of gas in Kenya is 2.8kg per year in Kenya, 2kg in Uganda and 0.12kg in Rwanda.

Senegal’s cylinder subsidy programme introduced to curb deforestation improved per capita consumption of LPG threefold to 10kg while the government initiatives to expand availability and improve affordability have pushed the average per capita consumption in North African countries to 55 kg.