Frequent power blackouts blackouts in Naivasha town

By Antony Gitonga

Naivasha,Kenya:Kenya Power has launched investigations into the frequent power blackouts in Naivasha town in the last two weeks which have adversely affected business.

The power company admitted that the main Suswa power station had problems which were leading to the frequent and irritating power outages in the whole of the lakeside town.

This came as traders told of their anger and losses over the power failure saying that they were making huge losses.

The manager Kenya Power Naivasha branch David Mugambi termed the problem as temporarily adding that they had launched investigations to establish the cause of the black-out.

“We shall be visiting the Suswa power station on Monday to establish what the problem is and we call for patience from our consumers,” he said.

He said that the station served the whole of Naivasha town adding that his officers were working round the clock to establish and fix the problem.

On their part, the traders threatened to hold a demonstration in the town to protest the blackouts which lasted sometimes for hours.

The most affected have been cyber-cafes, hotels, barber shops and flower farms as the outages have been affecting the whole of Naivasha town.

According to a trader Alice Ndung’u, the blackouts were increasing by the day inconveniencing them and their customers.

Ndung’u who operates an electronic shop noted that no clear explanation was coming from the power company.

“This is becoming irritating by the day and we are incurring huge losses due to the blackouts around the town,” she said.

The sentiments were echoed by a barber Peter Mwangi who said that many of his customers were shying from getting a shave.

“Some of my customers have been forced to go home half-shaved due to these blackouts which have affected us very much,” he said.

Mwangi called on the power company to urgently address the problem before they could close business.