Kenya Power registers new record high with a demand of 2,316 MW

Electricity consumption has hit a new record high with a demand of 2,316 MW recorded on Wednesday last week, data from Kenya Power’s National Control Centre show.

The statistics also show that peak electricity demand has been steadily growing over the last three years with the growth rate gaining momentum last year.

According to the utility company, towards the end of 2021, electricity demand exceeded the 2,000 MW threshold and peaked above 2,100 MW in 2022 and maintained a demand of 2,200 MW in 2023 before regaining momentum in June last year.

“Looking at the trend, it took nearly two years for the peak demand to grow by 200 MW. However, since June last year, peak demand has grown by over 116 MW. This means that in the last 8 months alone peak demand has grown by an average of 14.5 MW per month. Last year, we had 7 new peaks, as of December the Peak was 2,288 MW by January the peak was 2,304 MW,” said Kenya Power’s Managing Director & CEO Dr Joseph Siror.

The company says the growth in demand has largely been driven by investment in the stabilisation of the National Grid and the construction of key projects including the completion of the Kimuka 220/66kV substation by Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) from which Kenya Power built four 66kV feeder lines to serve Nairobi and adjacent counties.

The timely completion of other projects such as the 33kV double circuit interconnector between Narok and Bomet and network reinforcement projects have also enhanced power supply redundancy to ensure sustained sales.

The gains from the completion of these projects have been complemented by increased connection of new customers to the grid thus resulting in increased demand for electricity.

“The investment in upgrading transmission lines by Kenya Power and KETRACO has resulted in a more stable grid. In the last six months, we also connected over 198,535 new customers to the national grid. With improved grid stability and deployment of various connectivity projects, we expect a steady growth in electricity demand in the short and medium term,” said Dr Siror.

The company is currently implementing the donor-funded Last Mile Phases IV and V. Both projects are expected to connect a total of 289,121 new customers to the national grid.

In addition to grid reinforcement and connectivity projects, the Company is also actively championing the uptake of e-cooking and electric motorization to grow electricity demand and contribute positively to environmental conservation.

Towards this, in April last year, the company announced an investment of up to KShs.258 million covering three years to drive the uptake of electric vehicles and motorbikes in the country.

The investment includes the cost of setting up charging stations at various locations across the country and the purchase of electric vehicles and motorbikes to aid Company operations. This year, the Company will hold the third E-mobility conference bringing together various players to deliberate ways to grow the country’s electric mobility industry.

“In less than a year, we were billing less than 100,000 units of electricity on e-mobility accounts. Today, we are billing an average of 350,000 units from the accounts, representing more than triple the growth in electricity demand from this customer segment over this period,” said Dr Siror.

The company has also set up four E-cooking hubs in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kisumu that serve as demonstration centres to sensitise the public on modern electrical cooking appliances and the benefits of cooking using electricity.

In the short term, the company is working with various players to drive the adoption of E-cooking in institutions such as schools and hotels.

“To meet the growing electricity demand, the focus should now shift toward increasing the country’s electricity generation. This will improve spinning reserves to the standard 15% level to cater for contingency scenarios that have increased in recent years,” said Dr Siror.