Mombasa left in darkness as power switched off for 20 hours

Most parts of Mombasa County suffered a power outage lasting close to 20 hours a day after Kenya Power launched a Sh183 million infrastructure upgrade at its Nyali sub-station.

The problem started on Wednesday when Kenya Power managing director and CEO Ben Chumo launched the ‘Imarisha Umeme Pwani Project’ aimed at solving perennial outages in the Coast region. However, just hours after the launch, large parts of the most populous county at the Coast were left without electricity.

Residents started complaining through the Kenya Power Facebook and Twitter accounts when the company failed to restore supply after 6pm.

On its Facebook page, the firm had warned that supply of electricity would be disrupted in the region. “Kenya Power will interrupt electricity supply to the whole of Nyali, Kongowea, Kisauni, Mtopanga and its environs on Wednesday 4th June, 2014,” the announcement read.

“These interruptions will be necessary to allow for maintenance and installation of new equipment at Kipevu sub-station, Nyali sub-station and the affiliated lines, that will improve the quality and reliability of supply in the said areas and beyond.”

However, some residents said the notice had come too late.

Myah E. Styles posted on Kenya Power Facebook wall and said, “You should have posted this yesterday! Any power interruption notices should be posted a day before so that people can get themselves ready i.e. charge their electrical equipment or freeze food stuffs or store water.”

And Dharma Mukasa posed: “How do you give a notice after you have already disconnected power… Very unreliable and unprofessional.”

Following a delay in restoring power to the areas affected, the company at around 8pm posted a statement saying: “Maintenance work affecting whole of Nyali, Kongowea, Kisauni, Tudor, Bombolulu and environs and which was scheduled to end at 6pm, has delayed. Work is still in progress.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused and request for your patience and understanding.”

The announcement was met with an outcry.

SERIOUS COMPETITOR

Jael Mshai protested: “I wish you get a serious competitor. We keep on having frequent blackouts in Mombasa affecting our businesses.....we can no longer rely on you people.”

Winnie Nasurutia said: “Give us a timeline pliz. When is power expected? It is not enough to tell us about the delay.”

And Ally Hemendez Mtawinh had this to say: “I hope when we delay payments u just stay patient an understand us thanks.”

A communication from the Kenya Power Customer Relations and Marketing Manager Coast region, Mr Bomba Mahaga, said that the operation was major but completion of the work had been delayed by poor weather.

“In an operation as massive as that your endeavour is to keep timeliness but unforeseen things happen like the intermittent rains in the evening. Eventually all was done despite a small delay, say to 10 per cent of the customers,” Mr Mahaga said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Chumo had said that more than 700 engineers and technicians from various parts of the country worked together to revamp the power network in Nyali constituency to benefit close to 60,000 residents of Nyali, Kisauni and Kiembeni.

He said they were stripping the network bare and rebuilding it afresh to eliminate supply interruptions that had been an irritant to customers in the region.

He noted that making the network robust would drastically reduce disruption of power supply to factories and industries caused by planned and unplanned outages.

“We will have dedicated lines serving them. Power blackouts in factories will be a thing of the past,” he said. “This will greatly increase our contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.”

The MD acknowledged that Kenya Power management was aware of the frequent outages at the Coast and other areas.

“We received feedback from the Mombasa business community about the number of outages this city suffers and we have come to respond to the complaints.”

Mr Chumo asked area residents to use mobile money transfer services, especially M-Pesa and e-bill to pay their electricity bills.

“Sixty per cent of our clients have adopted this mode of payment. Others should follow suit because they don’t have to stand in queues,” he said.

During the first phase of the upgrade at Nyali sub-station, Kenya Power Coast Regional Manager Haid Yussuf Hassan said the project would cost Sh183 million and was expected to be completed in June.