Kenya Power connects 1.2m homes to the national grid

Electricity distributor Kenya Power connected 1.2 million new customers last year, raising to 4.87 million the total number of households hooked onto the national grid or 60 per cent access rate.

The power firm Monday said that the achievement has emboldened it to setting its eyes on connecting all Kenyan households to electricity in the next four years.

The project would push the number of connections to nine million, representing an access rate of 80 per cent.

“As we talk today we have above 5.2 million customers connected. This year, we are working to connect 1.5 million customers. We are now on the fourth month and we have already connected above 300,000 customers since beginning of July,” said Kenya Power’s general manager (business strategy) Peter Mungai Kinuthia at an investor briefing.

He said the goal was to connect 1.5 million customers by end of June next year and to hit the nine million mark in 2020. 

The large number of domestic connections has, however, had little effect on the country’s demand for electricity, pointing to the weak economic power of those coming on board.

Kenya’s peak demand for electricity crossed the 1,600-megawatt mark for the first time in September up from about 1,500 three years ago, lagging the rapid growth of generating capacity that now stands at 2,300 megawatts.

The huge spare capacity has become a big challenge for the government’s initial plan to generate 5,000 megawatts of electricity in five years.

Power sector experts had argued that such a rapid capacity expansion required a grand plan to expand the manufacturing sector and produce industrial goods for local consumption and export markets.

READ: Kenya Power says annual capital expenditure to fall 16pc

The slow growth in demand for power is therefore seen as representing the country’s weak industrial base, which has grown only marginally in the past 20 years. 

Power consumption hit 1,618 megawatts in September — the highest level yet in the country’s history – according to data from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) from a previous peak of 1,587 megawatts in May.

Increased power consumption is often a factor of rising economic activity and the slow pace of growth only means the economy is expanding at a snail’s pace.

That outcome, however, stands in stark contrast to the ERC’s estimate that demand will cross the 2,800-megawatt mark in 2020, or a 70 per cent growth in the next four years.

In 2013, the government announced an ambitious plan to grow the installed power capacity from 1,708 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts to spur industrial growth and light more homes.

The new connections last year included 7,402 public primary schools to support the government’s flagship digital literacy programme, which aims to give Class One primary school pupils access to digital devices.

To shoulder the new connections, the utility last year set up and upgraded 51 substations besides constructing 4,209 kilometres of new high and medium voltage power lines at a cost of Sh50 billion.

Under the plan to connect all Kenyans to electricity, the State utility says far flung areas will be covered under solar, wind or diesel power projects.

Kenya Power plans to partner with several multilateral institutions including the World Bank, the IFC, the French Development Agency, (AFD) and others in a multi-billion shilling solar and wind power project to support the connection of the far flung households.