KenGen headquarters in Nairobi: Consumers can look forward to further reduction in electricity prices in the new year following increased generation of cheaper power from dams. Photo/FILE
Consumers can look forward to further reduction in electricity prices in the new year following increased generation of cheaper power from dams.
Masinga Dam, the main reservoir for the Seven Forks hydro-electric power complex, is now spilling water after passing the 1,056.5-metre level, thanks to unusually heavy short rains.
With all but one dam at the River Tana cascade spilling, the Kenya Electricity Generating company (KenGen) expects to produce enough power that will reduce the proportion of electricity from fuel-based sources to below 10 per cent, compared to more than 30 per cent in the middle of the year.
“The fuel surcharge which caters for fuel used to generate thermal power should fall at between Sh3.00 to Sh5.00 per unit of power,” said KenGen managing director Edward Njoroge.
Electricity charges in Kenya are among the highest in the region and have been blamed to the high cost of doing business.
According to the power producer, thermal power has accounted for up to a third of the total electricity consumed by Kenyans in the recent past.
This has now been reduced to about ten per cent, with the remainder being generated from geothermal power. Mr Njoroge said the company would reduce reliance on hydro-electric power which is susceptible to weather changes. KenGen has been investing in geothermal, wind and solar power.
KenGen recently signed a contract to build two new geothermal power plants at Olkaria that are expected to be commissioned in 2014. This is expected to boost the country’s geothermal capacity by 280 megawatts.
The power producer is also in the second phase of a study to raise the level of the Masinga Dam by 1.5 metres.
When completed, it is estimated that the storage capacity for the Seven Forks cascade will increase by 400 million cubic metres and energy in the cascade by about 90 Gigawatt hours per year.
At the beginning of the short rains in mid October, the water level at the Masinga dam was at 1047 metres.
Mr Njoroge said current dam levels would produce electricity normally until March next year when long rains fall due.
Erratic weather conditions have seen the dam register inflows that have been lower than its recorded long-term average water levels, hitting almost zero for six months in 2009.
It is only Kiambere Dam, the last in the Tana series that is yet to spill water. It has risen from a low of 683.02metres in late October to a current high of 698.14metres which is 1.86metres shy of its full supply level.
Last Friday, Kenya Power managing director Joseph Njoroge said that fuel cost in last month’s power bill had gone down by Sh1 occasioned by increased hydrology; and the forex charge was down 50 cents, owing to the strengthening of the local currency.
More respite for electricity consumers is expected if the continued rallying of the Kenyan shilling against the US dollar hold.
