Consumers pain as power outages hit 38 in one year
Kenya Power Company technicians carry out repairs to a power transformer.
Kenyans were hit with an average of 38.18 interruptions to their electricity supply in the financial year to June 2022 exposing businesses to huge losses.
Kenya Power says the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), which is the average number of interruptions experienced by a customer, went up to 38.18 from 29.29 the previous year—marking a 30.35 per cent jump.
The company attributed the increased interruptions to the power supply during the period to the loss of one 220kV circuit on the Loiyangalani-Suswa line in December last year.
This after heavy rains and strong winds led to the collapse of pylons in Naivasha affecting the evacuation of electricity from Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) in Marsabit.
This saw power supply to various parts of the country cut for days affecting households and businesses following the power supply gap with LTWP supplying some 17 percent of Kenya’s electricity at peak demand.
Kenya Power also attributed the increased interruptions to the collapse of the high-voltage transmission lines in Imara Daima supplying power from Kiambere Dam that took days to repair. It further said unplanned outages of the Olkaria geothermal power plants contributed to the increased interruptions to the power supply.
“This decline was partly attributed to the loss of one 220kV circuit on the Loiyangalani-Suswa line, a breakdown at Imara Daima, Kiambere-Dandora 132 kV line, and unplanned outages of the Olkaria geothermal plants,” said Kenya Power acting Chief Executive Geoffrey Muli.
The interruptions are a huge burden, especially to businesses that are forced to switch to more expensive temporary power sources to keep business operations running, while those that cannot afford to do so temporarily close shop.
However, Kenya Power and other licensed electricity suppliers could soon compensate customers for unreliable power supply should the energy regulator gets its way with new rules.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) is advancing the development of new regulations that could see Kenya Power pay customers for unreliable electricity supply.
The Draft Electricity (Reliability and Quality of Supply and Quality of Service) Regulations, 2022 compel power firms to compensate customers for unplanned power outages that cause property damage, business loss, or death.
The firms will pay affected customers within three months after a claim is determined.
However, customers will not be compensated if the power outage or irregular supply was caused by third-party interference with the firm’s supply lines, inevitable accident, force majeure, customer’s fault, and illegal activities on the company’s infrastructure or if a report is not made within 30 days of the outage.
“A licensee shall be liable to pay appropriate compensation to a person if due to failure, poor quality or irregularity of electricity supply, the person incurs damage to his or her property, financial loss, loss of life due to negligence or avoidable default by the Licensee, provided that the breach is reported in writing within thirty (30) days of the breach,” said the draft regulations.
Kenya Power however says it is working towards improving its network’s operational efficiency, especially through the implementation of network automation projects to enhance operational flexibility and quick restoration of supply.
It said it has intensified the deployment of its live-line maintenance to minimise interruption of supply to customers even as it noted that power quality and reliability are mainly affected by the encroachment of vegetation on its power lines.
“The Company enhanced trimming of trees encroaching on the power lines, which account for over 60 percent of outages in the distribution system,” said Mr Muli.
