Electricity use at 4-year high in sign of growth

Month-on-month electricity consumption hit a four-year high of 750.97 Gigawatt hours (GWh) in November, pointing to increased uptake of power by households and businesses in signs of accelerating economic growth.

Fresh Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows that Kenya Power’s 750.97 GWh sales in November 2018 were the highest since 826.76 GWh were sold in May 2015, coming on the back of increased electricity connectivity in the country.

Kenya Power acting managing director Jared Othieno in an interview said November is generally a high electricity consumption month, driven mainly by demand from industries that power up to match increased orders associated with the festive season.

“November is usually a peak demand month since it is when most industries go full on production then come down during December when many close for festivities or cut on production,” said Mr Othieno.

Peak electricity demand has now touched 1,859 megawatts (MW) from about 1,800MW recorded in June last year, Mr Othieno said.

The surge in demand recorded in November, Mr Othieno said, was replicated last month.

“There is general growth in demand which is sustained in January, save for December because most people work for a shorter period,” he said.

The rise comes at a time the State has introduced discounted night-time electricity tariffs for manufacturers as an incentive to fire-up demand. Eyes will be on Kenya Power’s performance, whose profit hit a 10-year low for the period ended June last year.

Kenya Power’s electricity revenue grew by Sh5.11 billion to Sh125.85 billion in the year to June 2018, mainly due to a rise in unit sales by 2.3 percent to 8,459 megawatt hours.

KNBS data showed that increased consumption up to November was also matched with more electricity generation to match local needs as the country cut down on the size of imports from Uganda.

Generation rose by 9.3 percent to 10,111 GWh in 11 months to November last year as the country increased production from hydro, wind and geothermal sources at the expense of thermal.

Excluding emergency power production, thermal power production dropped by 38.1 percent to 1,454.38 kilowatt hours (KWh) from 2,350.74 KWh in the previous 11-month period.

Electricity imports from Uganda dropped by 43 percent to 211 million KWh. However, total exports to Tanzania and Kenya rose three times from 10.92 KWh to 31.45KWh in the period under review.

Kenya is working towards generation of more green energy to conserve the environment as well as reduce the overall cost of electricity.

In the month of November last year, 340.07 million KWh of electricity was generated from hydro while geothermal power produced 397.58 million KWh, followed by wind at 139.17 KWh. Thermal sources contributed 80.15 MWh.