Fuel
Mandera’s petrol has risen 20% in two years. The nine towns behind it are all northern.
Twenty-three EPRA cycles show the gap between Kenya’s cheapest and dearest fuel towns is not holding steady. It is widening.
2026-09-16 · Lewis Kariuki
EPRA gazettes a maximum pump price for every Kenyan town each month. Most coverage quotes three cities. Line up 23 cycles of those gazettes and a different picture appears: the towns that already pay the most for fuel are also the ones where it has risen fastest.
Since 2024-11-15, petrol in Mandera has gone from KSh 194.66 to KSh 234.68 — a rise of 20.6%. Over the same period Mombasa, where every litre of Kenya’s fuel lands, rose 18.9%.
Risen fastest since 2024-11-15
| Town | Then | Now | Rise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandera | 194.66 | 234.68 | +20.6% |
| Elwak | 192.17 | 230.94 | +20.2% |
| Eldas | 192.51 | 231.45 | +20.2% |
| Moyale | 190.79 | 228.87 | +20% |
| North Horr | 190.12 | 227.88 | +19.9% |
| Tarbaj | 190.44 | 228.36 | +19.9% |
| Wajir | 190.61 | 228.60 | +19.9% |
| Sololo | 189.78 | 227.35 | +19.8% |
| Kalacha | 189.22 | 226.52 | +19.7% |
| Marsabit | 189.09 | 226.34 | +19.7% |
The consequence is a gap that keeps opening. In 2024-11-15, a litre of petrol in Mandera cost KSh 17.24 more than the same litre in Mombasa. Today it costs KSh 23.81 more — the difference has widened by KSh 6.57 a litre.
Everything above the Mombasa price is the cost of moving fuel inland, which is why the list is northern. What the series adds is that the cost of distance is not holding steady. It is growing, and it is growing fastest where people can least absorb it.
Method
EPRA gazettes a maximum retail price per town monthly, effective the 15th. Figures compare the first available cycle (2024-11-15) with the current one (15 Aug - 14 Sep 2026), for super petrol only. Towns absent from either cycle are excluded rather than estimated. Prices are caps — a station may sell below them, never above.
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Lewis Kariuki · WhatsApp 0180163805 · beifiti.ke@gmail.com
Every figure on this page is read from the source data when the page builds, not typed in when it was written. If the underlying numbers change, so do these.