Rains light up power consumers

By Macharia Kamau
Kenyans should by end of this month get a reprieve in their Electricity bills following the recent rains that have seen Kenya Power distributing more of hydro generated electricity and less from independent power producers that use diesel to generate electricity.

The proportion of electricity acquired from diesel fired thermal electricity generators has to date reduced to 27 per cent, from about 30 per cent of total electricity distributed by Kenya Power while electricity from hydro sources has increased to 50.5 per cent.

Kenya Power said these proportions should change significantly in the course of the coming weeks, with hydro generated electricity expected to take the lion’s share and account for upwards of 65 per cent of the electricity consumed. This is expected to see further price reductions in power bills.

Lower fuel cost
The firm last week gazetted a 45 cents reduction per kilowatt hour for fuel costs and will charge consumers Sh6.97 in the month of May compared to Sh7.42 in April.

It, however, said it would review prices further downwards in the coming months as it switches more to hydro generated electricity and reduces power purchase from thermal electricity producers.

“KenGen is currently generating more power from hydro dams, which is cheaper than thermal sources and so the fuel cost adjustment, component in customers’ bills will go down,” said Joseph Njoroge Managing Director in an e-mail response to Weekend Business inquiries.

“At the moment, we cannot tell the margins by which power bills will come down because it is calculated from returns on fuel used by respective power generators whose thermal stations have been used in a particular month. Once it is calculated, the fuel cost adjustment is used in the following month’s bills.”

However, the firm is still reeling from the effect of the heavy downpour witnessed over the last month, especially the havoc it caused on power infrastructure.

Roads Minister Franklin Bett says the rains caused serious damage on roads and estimates repairs to cost Sh100 billion. “We all need the rain but it has come with a price. Transport has been disrupted and properties destroyed,” Mr Bett said.

Kenya Power said it is yet to consolidate reports on the damage on infrastructure but notes that it runs into billions.

“Rainstorms and strong winds wreaked havoc on the network, uprooting trees, which fell on power lines, while lightning strikes damaged lines and transformers... this affected over 150,000 customers,” said Njoroge.

“It is not easy to quantify damage as the rains have just subsided and it will take time to collate figures from across the country.”

“The worst is over, with reduction of the rainstorms and complaints have reduced by half.”

Even with this assurances, manufacturers and other electricity consumers are now counting the huge expenditure incurred to keep their plants running in the many instances of power outages.

The dilapidated power infrastructure resulted in heightened instability in power supply over the last four or so weeks, characterised by day-long power outages and poor quality of electricity provision.

Normal service provision is yet to resume in certain areas, especially in Nairobi and central Kenya, which are still experiencing outages occasioned by damaged power lines.

Jaswinder Bedi chairman Kenya Association of Manufacturers said manufacturers are still reporting instances of frequent power outages despite rains having subsided over the last one week, which is forcing them to run their machinery on backup generators.
“Power supply remains bad following the rains. There are segments in Nairobi’s Industrial Area that have been on and off even this week even though small amounts of rains were reported. Other segments are reporting that despite having power, the quality is poor and cannot run equipment,” said Bedi in an interview.

“Most of the equipment in manufacturing plants is sensitive and manufacturers have to bear the cost of running generators where the power being supplied to them is of poor quality.”

He added that the whole power supply situation – including stability and pricing – continues to render Kenya an uncompetitive investment destination, while products that are manufactured locally cannot compete in the export markets.