Seek alternative power supply to cut on losses, businesses urged

Small and medium enterprises are incurring losses due to intermittent power supply, Schneider Electric, a company involved in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has said.

Mr Edouard Heripret, the Schneider Electric general manager East Africa said businesses should instead ensure secure power protection solutions that guarantee 24/7 power supply.

He was speaking at an event in Kampala, Uganda where the French firm launched a three-phase Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS).

The package, Easy UPS 3M, offers 60 kVA and 100 kVA (400V) capacity units that can service small and medium businesses, data centres, and manufacturing facilities.

Its customers can monitor and manage the system remotely through a cloud-based software suite.

“Easy UPS 3M fills a growing market need for a solution delivering power availability, reliability, manageability, quality, and convenience,” Mr Heripret said.

He added that it protects critical equipment from damage due to power outages, surges, and spikes.

According to the firm the new offer is easy to install, use, and service and will be available in all the East African countries.

Kenya still leads her East African peers in access to electricity.

World Bank’s The Energy Progress Report released May 2, 2018, electricity access rate in Kenya stood at 56 per cent, Tanzania (32.8 per cent), Rwanda (29.37 per cent), Uganda (26.7 per cent) and Burundi (7.5 per cent).

The report covered the period up to 2016. The figures have since increased according to the report’s tracking website.