Kenya’s electricity access rate now at a historic 60 per cent

What you need to know:

  • We have reduced the power-supply-interruption incidence per 1,000 customers from 9.2 in 2014 to the current 6.4.

  • We have a renewed sense of urgency in effectively implementing projects to ensure that the country has adequate, reliable and quality electricity necessary for Kenya's development. 

In the run-up to the 2013 General Election, the Jubilee Alliance, in its manifesto, recognised the provision of adequate, reliable and competitively priced electricity as a critical ingredient of economic development.

It set out to provide sufficient electricity generation to spur economic growth as well as address the hitherto perennial shortfalls occasioned by over-reliance on hydropower which is often affected by changing weather patterns. Prior to the implementation of the government’s strategy to generate an additional 5,000 MW, the country’s installed capacity stood at 1,765 MW as at June, 2013. Since then, the generation capacity has increased by 33 per cent to the current 2,341 MW as at end of June, 2016.

More than 57 per cent of the new generation is from relatively cheaper geothermal energy which has had a positive impact by reducing average retail tariff from a high of Sh23 per electricity unit in March, 2013 to Sh13 per unit as at end of June, 2016. With geothermal generation as the main source of this new energy, we have since retired much of the expensive thermal plants and consequently reduced fuel cost charges to customers from Sh7.22 per unit to the current Sh2.31 per unit.

I believe that the biggest achievement we have made in the last three years is consistently breaking barriers in efforts to connect Kenyans to the electrical grid. Arguably the fastest connection rate in the region, we have since connected an additional 2.6 million households, raising our customer base from 2,261,064 in March, 2013 to 4,890,373 in June, 2016, representing a growth of 116 per cent. This has raised the country’s electricity access rate from 27 per cent three years ago to 60 per cent by the end of June this year.

TO GRID

Last year alone, we connected a total of 1.25 million Kenyans to the grid, up from 843,000 the previous year. With confidence and support from the government and international lenders in the ongoing Last Mile Connectivity Project, we aim to achieve 70 per cent connectivity by the end of next year and universal access by 2020. Besides styling up the lives of Kenyans, we believe that provision of electricity will help spur economic growth at micro level even as we grow our company’s revenue.

We have also done a lot to improve the quality and reliability of power supply to our customers.  In the last three years, we have invested to modernise the network by constructing additional substations and power lines to reduce power outages and create capacity for growth. A total of 81 substations, both newly-constructed and upgraded, have been completed in various parts of the country since 2013.

We also initiated Boresha Umeme programme, a rapid-response initiative targeting our large power customer segment and essential service customers to improve quality by minimising outages. The Boresha Umeme programme has been implemented in more than 40 areas in different parts of the country including all major cities and towns, economic zones, high load growth areas and major residential areas.

As a result of these initiatives among others, we have reduced power-supply-interruption incidence per 1,000 customers from 9.2 in 2014 to the current 6.4. As seen above, we have a renewed sense of urgency in effectively implementing projects to ensure that the country has adequate, reliable and quality electricity necessary for the country’s development. 

 

Ben Chumo is the managing director and chief executive officer of Kenya Power.