Kenya Power names new interim managing director

Engineer Geoffrey Wasua Muli was appointed acting managing director of Kenya Power.

Kenya Power has appointed Geoffrey Wasua Muli as its acting managing director.

Muli replaces Rosemary Oduor who has been at the helm of the utility company in an acting capacity as well.

In a statement dated May 18, the power company said the new appointment will take effect from Monday, May 17.

“We wish to announce to our shareholders that the board of directors has appointed Eng Geoffrey Wasua Muli as the acting managing director with effect from May 17, 2020 in the place of Eng Rosemary Oduor who was serving in an acting capacity. Eng Oduor is proceeding on a well-deserved annual leave,” Kenya Power said in a statement.

“Prior to his appointment, he was the acting general manager in charge of Regional Coordination in the company.”

Muli’s predecessor, Oduor, took over in August 2021 from Bernard Ngugi, who quit abruptly two years into his tenure as chief executive.

She had been serving as the general manager for commercial services before she was named acting managing director.

It is unclear where she will be posted when she resumes work after annual leave.

The changes come at a time when Kenya Power prepares to replace Ngugi, having started the recruitment process for a substantive managing director in January this year.

The company had hired Deloitte Consulting to help it in the search for a new chief executive.

Ngugi exited the firm under unclear circumstances towards the end of 2021, cutting short his three-year term that was to end in October this year. His exit meant that Kenya Power had lost its fourth CEO in four years.

Muli is taking on as the interim boss of the company amid reforms that the power firm, and generally the local electricity sector, has been undertaking as the government seeks to streamline the sector and bring down power prices.

The company had embarked on a turnaround plan in 2019 after profit dropped to Sh261 million from Sh3.2 billion a year early before plunging into a Sh939 million loss. The turnaround efforts have been boosted by state-run initiatives that are geared at reforming the sector.

Among the key results of reforms include a return to profitability last year, reporting a net profit of Sh1.5 billion in the year to June 2021 after posting a loss of Sh939 million in 2019.

The more recent reforms that include cutting waste within Kenya Power as well as among other government-owned power sector agencies saw the government deliver a 15 per cent drop in power prices in January this year.

This is expected to drop by another 15 per cent as Kenya Power and the Energy Ministry renegotiate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) the firm has signed with Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Renegotiation of the power contracts is among the major recommendations of the Presidential Taskforce on Review of PPAs which, if fully implemented, are expected to bring about an efficient and self-sustaining power sector.

The state is implementing recommendations of the task force and towards the end of last year declared Kenya Power a special government project, which meant that the entity would be under more scrutiny from the state.