Businesses counting losses following countrywide power outage

Businesses at the Coast are counting losses following a nationwide power outage on Saturday.

Reports from different counties indicated that business activities were halted due to lack of power, forcing some to use generators or torches to serve customers.

When the Nation visited the Mombasa central business district (CBD), many streets within it were a cacophony of rumbling generators in several premises while other buildings were in darkness.

At Meru Road, Curio Paradise proprietor Abdulmajid Jahadhamy said the power blackout had paralysed their activities and they could not adequately serve their customers.

“Since we opened shop in the morning, we have served a negligible number of customers.We have been forced to use a torch to show customers our products,” Mr Jahadhamy said.

Down the same road, about 10 workers at the Restaurant Fantasy were idle after the expected ‘boom’ of customers to watch the Rio Olympic Games kept off.

“We had prepared ourselves for this weekend boom but as you can see we have very few diehard patrons here,” the manager Michael Omondi said, expressing fears they might be forced to throw away food stored in refrigerators.

A butcher, Rashid Katana, told the Nation that if power was restored quickly he would be forced to dispose over 180 kilograms of meat.

“All our machines here from cutting to weighing are digital now that there is not power we have gone back to analog and already some of our customers are complaining of too much bone-bits in their meat,” he said.

 In Lamu, businesspeople led by Abdalla Saary, the proprietor of the Nurulyaqueen General Merchants and Enterprises, said the sudden power loss has caused them huge losses since many refrigerated products and electronic appliances have been destroyed.

“This is not the first time KPLC [Kenya Power] cut power in the town without notifying us. Each time this happens, we lose so much. Our electronic products are destroyed every now and then not to talk of frozen products. This can’t go on because it seems [Kenya Power] doesn’t see the need to notify us,” he said.

In Malindi, most businesses doubled their service fees to cater for fuel expenses and cushion themselves from electricity hitch as many affected premises including barber shops, pressure car wash, hair salons, cyber cafes and wielders were forced to rely on generators.

Mr Philip Magara, whose barbershop lies on the Malindi-Lamu road, told Nation that the he hiked his fee by 100 per cent from Sh150 to Sh300 per person.

“Doubling the price enables me cater for the cost of fuel used to run the generator to service customers,” he said, adding that the fee hike did not turn away customers.”