Kenya Power sees 40pc outage drop on live maintenance service

Kenya Power says the live line maintenance service launched in Nairobi Monday will reduce scheduled electricity outages by up to 40 percent.

The utility firm dispatched 24 new trucks purchased under the Sh2 billion World Bank funding for the service expected to boost its revenues and give consumers better quality of power.

Kenya Power’s acting chief executive, Jared Othieno, said the technology, which has been undergoing piloting since 2016 with eight trucks, had “shown significant improvement in power stability.”

“Through live line maintenance we are able to enhance the reliability of power supply and make repairs more efficient. It will also help us recover losses from unspent power which happens when we disconnect for planned maintenance,” Mr Othieno said.

The improved maintenance method is part of the larger Kenya Electricity Modernisation Programme which will also see system upgrades to boost power distribution management.

Kenya Power has already trained over 200 staff to use the 32 trucks in different regions in maintaining low and high voltage lines without causing outages. A new laboratory to test the equipment used in the maintenance works like insulators and gloves has also been completed.

The expanded rollout of the programme is also expected to deal with the frequent power outages occasioned by repairs, which require power lines to be switched off first.

The utility service provider is banking on such technologies and add-ons to its power supply to shore up revenues as the government embarks on a plan to achieve universal power connection by 2022.