The national power utility firm, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) is looking into partnering with counties to address specific electricity issues that would in turn spur growth.
The move is aimed at reversing the Kenya Power balance sheet from a perennial lose making entity into a productive parastatal.
In a consultative meeting with a delegation from Tharaka Nithi county led by governor Muthomi Njuki held yesterday, Kenya Power Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer Joseph Siror said there was huge potential for business in counties especially in powering key installations such as markets and business centres in an effort to increase trading time.
Kenya Power plans to set up a 15MVA, 132/33kV substation to boost the quality of power supply within Tharaka Nithi county.
“We will engage all the counties across the entire country so that we can identify the areas of challenges and possible opportunities to better our partnership for improved service delivery.” Siror said.
Siror called upon the county governments to approach the country’s power distribution network with specific interest in reaching the last mile connectivity.
The Tharaka Nithi county government, in its seeking a long-term partnership donated three acres of land to KPLC to set up a substation some 6 kilometres to the county headquarters to serve the headquarters and its environs.
The substation to be set up at Kajuki would also power the county aggregation and industrial park where electricity will be a key ingredient in sustaining work and output.
Last year, Kenya Power made a loss of Sh3.66 billion following a nine-month government-backed electricity subsidy plan that was aimed at cushioning consumers from high energy bills.
The government kept electricity prices constant between December 2021 and September last year to prevent an increase in power costs pushed by high fuel and currency fluctuation costs to cushion Kenyans over the then and current high cost of living.
However, the new administration led by president William Ruto has since scrapped the subsidies terming them unsustainable thus exerting more pressure and financial burden to the already impoverished and struggling population.
Kenya Power’s financial statements for the fiscal year to June 2022 show the firm received revenues amounting to Sh7.3 billion in forex adjustment charges and Sh24.4 billion in fuel cost charges during the period, but incurred costs of Sh9 billion and Sh26.3 billion on the two components respectively.
This saw the company spend Sh3.66 billion more to plug the disparity in the earnings from customers.
“Management has indicated that the variance was due to the actual recovery rates approved by Epra for billing to customers, being lower than the actual rates applied at the point of purchasing power from the producers,” Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu said.
