More Kenyans will benefit from electricity supplies as the government has increased the budget for subsidised house connections to the national grid by Sh1.48 billion for the fiscal year beginning July.
According to the National Treasury’s newest expenditure plans presented by Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, Sh5.8 billion has been set aside for the Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP), up 34.36 percent over the Sh4.31 billion allowed for the programme in the current fiscal year.
The government would provide Sh800 million to the Sh5.8 billion budget, with the balance coming from other sources.
The LMCP is a 7.5-year project with a budget of Sh77.6 billion. The project is part of the state’s aim to encourage a 24-hour economy, increase security, and connect more public buildings to the national grid.
Development financiers have pledged Sh50 billion, with the rest coming from the government.
Budget cuts and a scarcity of poles, on the other hand, have impeded the initiative, with the government missing its three-year target.
The initiative attempts to expand the low-voltage system across the country, with the goal of benefiting counties with low power penetration rates the most.
The project’s last phase is projected to connect about 300,000 clients, bringing the total number of households with electricity to about 1.5 million.
Kenya Power reported a 5-percent increase in electricity from 8,171 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to 8,571 GWh in its financial report for 2020/21, which was fueled in part by 716,206 new customer connections, including those linked to the grid through the LMCP.
Commercial and industrial clients grew by 4.8 percent, small commercial customers by 5.1 percent, household customers by 4.9 percent, and street-lighting customers by 10.2 percent.
Yatani stated in his Budget Policy Statement for the 2021/22 fiscal year that the state expects to connect 2.4 million homes to subsidised power in the year beginning last July as part of efforts to move closer to the ambitious goal of universal electricity access.
Aside from the LMCP financing for the next fiscal year, the state has also increased its budgeted allocation for connecting houses to subsidised power beginning in July.
The Treasury has authorised Sh100 million in electricity subsidies, up from Sh50 million approved in the previous fiscal year.
Power users can now get connected for as little as Sh15,000, depending on their closeness to power lines and transformers, down from Sh35,000.