Residents have voiced concern over the increasing cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which they say will force them to use charcoal and firewood for cooking putting pressure on forest cover and undermining ongoing efforts save the environment.

An analysis of the retail price of a kilogram of cooking gas over the past 10 years shows it has dropped by 70 per cent after the government intervened and scrapped import duty on gas. This saw the price of LPG gas drop by Rwf1,000 per kilogram as of November 2017 from Rwf4,000 in 2008. Since then, the subsidies have reduced the cost of a cylinder from Rwf40,000 to Rwf28,000. Since December 2017 the price of a gas cylinder increased with the cheapest being SP gas at Rwf35,000 and Kigali gas at Rwf32,000. The most expensive is Safe gas at Rwf60,500.

Mini survey

According to a mini survey conducted by this paper around petrol stations in Kigali, the cost of refilling a 12kg gas cylinder increased to an average Rwf14,000 over the past two years, up from Rwf12,000 in 2017.

Consumers are requesting the government to find a way of either merging gas companies and set a fixed price for gas and the cylinders. They are also requesting for traders to accept all types of gas cylinders for refill.

Alexandre Mutuyeyezu, a resident of Kigarama in Kicukiro District, said part of the challenge is replacing gas cylinders as they are have to use the same supplier and the prices are not standard.

Oreste Niyonsaba, manager of Social Energies at Rwanda Energy Group said that while use of LPG is increasing, the cost is still a barrier for low-income earners.

“Gas consumption increased to four per cent from one per cent in 2014 in urban cities and in the capital, but still requires initiatives to get more people to adapt it,” said Eng Niyonsaba, adding that, “Across the country, gas consumption remains at 1.5 per cent, which is a very small percentage compared with 84 per cent who use firewood and charcoal for cooking, putting a strain on the country’s forest cover.”

Minister of Infrastructure Claver Gatete said the government had met importers and dealers of LPG gas to plan better on ways to lower costs for the end user.