The struggling national power distributor Kenya Power has announced outage in sections of Nairobi as a result of a technical fault.
The power situation is affecting parts of Industrial Area, Mombasa Road, Embakasi, Imara Daima and the Eastern Bypass.
“A fault on our system at the Embakasi substation has caused the interruption of electricity supply. This is being addressed,” Kenya Power said.
“We apologise for the current situation.” Kenya Power management said in a statement.
Previously, the power distributor has been on the receiving end being castigated for incessant power outages.
Currently, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company PLC (Kenya Power) has a monopoly on power sales given its ownership and operationalization of most of the electricity transmission and distribution system in the country.
As of June 2020, Kenya Power, the sole listed power distributor was selling electricity to over 7.5 million clients.
Pundits contend that a web of well-connected technical insider cartels working in collusion with external investor players have been frustrating full implementation of Energy Act 2019 that provides for the opening up of the sector.
Effectively, the well-choreographed managed process thwarts efforts by state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) from direct electricity sales to create competition and efficiency.
In March this year, Kengen expressed interest in targeting flower firms and large industries in the proposed Naivasha Industrial Park as first customers for direct electricity sales.
However, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) is yet to act on this proposal.
Until now, KenGen has been restricted to electricity generation, alongside Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
The high cost of cost of production attributed to high cost of unreliable power supply has adversely affected key sectors including the President Uhuru Kenyatta’s main four delivery pillars on; manufacturing, food security, affordable housing and Universal Health Coverage alongside attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI’s).
