Good News as Kenyans Will Access Cheaper Cooking gas After President William Ruto's Latest Move

 President William Ruto's government has decided not to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on cooking gas meters to make it easier for people to get clean energy. This decision was made when the president signed the Miscellaneous Amendments Bill, 2024, on Wednesday, April 24.

The bill changed the Value Added Tax Act to include gas meters in the list of things that don't have VAT

A statement from the president explained, "The Value Added Tax Act has also been changed so that gas meters are not taxed, making it easier for low-income families to use clean energy." This means sellers won't add VAT when selling gas meters, and buyers won't have to pay the tax.

Gas meters measure how much liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is used when cooking.

In the Finance Act 2023, three taxes on cooking gas were removed. These were 8% VAT, 3.5% Import Declaration Fees (IDF), and 2% Railway Development Levy (RDL). After these taxes were removed, the cost of refilling a 13kg cooking gas cylinder went down by more than KSh 300, from an average of KSh 3,069 to KSh 2,787.

President William Ruto had promised to lower the cost of refilling a cooking gas cylinder even further, to around KSh 500 and KSh 300 for a 6kg gas cylinder by June 2023. But this didn't happen.