Kenya’s peak electricity demand hit a new record of 2,228.11 megawatts (MW) on July 31,2024, boosted by rapid connections of new customers to the national energy grid by Kenya Power to grow sales.
Peak demand represents the moment when the uptake of electricity by households and businesses is highest on the grid at one point in time.
“The installed capacity is about 3,300MW and the peak demand is now 2,228MW,” Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror said.
This marks an increase of 2.3 percent in peak demand in five months from the previous high of 2,177.13MW in February.
The race by Kenya Power to hook up millions of new customers to the grid has supported the increase in electricity demand at a time when consumption from big power users such as manufacturers has been stalling.
In the half-year to December 2023, the company connected 256,206 new customers to the grid and targeted to hit 400,000 by June this year.
“Additionally, we will step up our investments in the network to fortify its reliability and continuously refine our connectivity procedures to seamlessly onboard more customers to the grid,” said the utility in its half-year results.
Manufacturing spanning production of cement, steel, plastics, and food commodities such as cooking oil, maize flour, and milk are traditionally among the highest consumers of power.
However, the sector has slowed down in recent months due to a tough operating environment underpinned by high interest rates, diminished consumption, cheap imports, high taxes, and stiff competition.
The sector’s growth decelerated to 1.3 percent in the quarter to March 2024 compared to a higher growth of 1.7 percent in the same period last year.
Stung by the high cost of living, the spending power of domestic households is also strained, which means Kenya Power is increasingly relying on new connections to increase its sales.
In the half-year to December 2023, the company connected 256,206 new customers to the grid and targeted to hit 400,000 by June this year.
“Additionally, we will step up our investments in the network to fortify its reliability and continuously refine our connectivity procedures to seamlessly onboard more customers to the grid,” said the utility in its half-year results.
But as power demand rises, generation capacity is not expanding at a similar rate, forcing Kenya to increasingly shift to imports from neighbours to plug the deficit.
Kenya Power says that the country’s reserve margin—the level of unused available capability of an electric power system - stands at four percent.
This makes the grid more vulnerable to power cuts in case of challenges in one or more of the major power-generating plants.
The power distributor, however, expects to accelerate its connectivity programme using a mix of its own resources, government funds, and donor financing.
Kenya Power in May signed 26 contracts for the fourth phase of the Last Mile Connectivity Project for Sh27 billion. This will connect 280,000 customers to the grid.
The utility also received a Sh1.85 billion grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency last week to connect 9,121 households in four counties to the grid.
