Hopes for cheaper power dashed as diesel-generation costs increase

What you need to know:

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) data shows power consumption from diesel plants has hit a three- month high.

The units of the diesel-generated electricity consumed by homes and businesses have increased for the third time since January, clouding the State’s bid to cut power costs.

Data from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) shows that the share of the costly thermal power increased in the first quarter of the year to 18.9 per cent last month, up from a low of 12.6 per cent in December.

By comparison, the share of geothermal power stood at 47.9 per cent last month, down from 48.6 per cent in February, 48.8 per cent in January and 49.8 per cent in December when it was at its peak.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) managing director Albert Mugo would not comment on the matter on Tuesday, saying he was out of the country.

Last month, he told Business Daily: “It is true there has been a small decline in the share of geothermal power since December when it was at its peak. We are looking into that.”

The ERC data shows that power from diesel-powered plants has increased in the past three months with the country consuming 145.9 million kilowatt hours (kWh) last month compared to 128.3 million kWh in February and 116.5 million kWh in January.

Only 94.2 million kWh were consumed in December.

In contrast, the country consumed 376.6 million kWh of geothermal electricity last month, up from 352.1 million kWh in February but its share in the generation mix dropped over the period.

KenGen in February announced that consumers had realised the full benefits of the 280 megawatts of geothermal power injected into the grid between last July and December.

The fuel cost levy in electricity bills has remained unchanged for two months at Sh2.51 kWh for post-paid bills – signaling that the cheaper geothermal power injected into the grid is unlikely to cut prices any further.

Although the additional cheaper geothermal power has cut electricity costs by nearly a third since August, households have seen little changes compared to 13 months ago due to the higher tariffs awarded to Kenya Power last year by ERC.