Electricity distributor Kenya Power faces pressure to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and boost efficiency in reconnections during outages after the energy sector regulator capped the permissible number of unplanned blackouts in new proposed changes aimed at improving service delivery.
In a drastic shift, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) proposes to limit the System Average Interruption Frequency Indicator (SAIFI) – the number of times an average customer is hit by a blackout – to 20 in a year.
SAIFI is measured in units of interruptions per customer. It is usually measured over a year, according to the median value for North American utilities --approximately 1.10 interruptions per customer.
“The proposed code is about improving service delivery by the power utility company. There have to be benchmarks in service delivery,” an official at Epra said.
The new rule spells an uphill task for Kenya Power given its poor track record characterised by the high number of unplanned electricity outages. For instance, official Kenya Power records showed that its customers were hit with an average of 44.9 unplanned blackouts in the year to June 2023.
To minimise the length of blackouts, the proposed Epra service code further restricts the cumulative duration of unplanned power outages - System Average Interruption Duration Indicator (SAIDI) - to 80 hours per year.
The SAIDI index is the average total duration of outages (in hours) experienced by a customer in a year.
The target set by Epra would mark a significant shift going by the current situation where customers stay in the dark for about 115.73 hours annually. Further, to ensure that unplanned blackouts last as briefly as possible, the code has restricted the duration of each blackout - Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) - to a maximum of four hours.
If achieved, this will be an improvement from the current average duration of four hours and 52 minutes for each blackout.
However, the rules do not apply to power outages that are planned.
Kenya Power regularly schedules power outages to undertake maintenance works and network upgrades to specific areas in a day.
These new targets have to be achieved by Kenya Power within the first year of the distribution code being adopted until the fifth year.
After five years, the targets will be further improved to a maximum of 15 unplanned blackouts each year, 45 hours of unplanned outages annually, and a maximum duration of just three hours per outage.
These standards will also be applied to new power distributors that will join the market to compete with Kenya Power following the opening up of the local energy distribution market.
The code has further given Epra power to fine firms that do not meet the set standards.
“The amount of the penalty will be determined by the authority depending on the type and the level of non-compliance,” says the code.
The new rules come at a time when Kenyans have been on the receiving end of frequent power outages, some of which have been nationwide, leading to disruption of business activities.
Kenyans were hit with a nationwide power blackout in December which was the third in as many months. There has been a growing push from the businesses that incur financial losses due to power outages to be compensated by Kenya Power. However the regulations to compel the power utility to compensate consumers for financial losses, equipment damage, physical injuries and death due to power outages are yet to be operationalised. Kenya Power offers compensation for injuries and damaged kits but does not compensate domestic and business customers for financial loss resulting from being left without electricity.
