Kenya Power and Lighting Company [KPLC]personnel works on an electricity line at Tetu in Nyeri on July 3 2015.The mega consumer power connectivity drive that was launched this year by the Government is expected to take electricity to millions of homes at a lower cost. The cost of connectivity was cut up to Sh15,000 from the Sh36,000 that applicants whose homes are located within 600 metres of a transformer have been paying. PHOTO KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD.

Recently, a global news outlet Associated Press (AP) carried an article claiming that 65 per cent of all Kenyan households are connected to electricity.

The outlet postulated: “The number of Kenyan households currently connected to the national grid stands at 65 per cent of the national coverage. The target is to connect 70 per cent by the end of this year and universal access by the year 2020.”

“Most of the customers are beneficiaries of the World Bank’s Global Partnership of Output-Based Aid, and the Last Mile Connectivity Programmes. They are largely from informal settlements”.

This raised the question about what exactly is the percentage of Kenyan households that are connected to the national grid?

As of March 7 this year, data from Kenya Power showed that 60 per cent of Kenyan households were connected to the national grid. The figure has been constant since June 2016, hence the assertion by AFP was erroneous.

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In March 2013, 2.26 million households had been connected to the grid. This figure has since risen to 4.89 million households, representing 116 percentage growth.

Kenya Power also says power supply interruption incidenTs haD reduced per 1,000 customers from 9.2 in 2014 to the current 6.4. The country’s installed capacity stood at 1,765 MW as at June 2013. The generation capacity has increased by 33 per cent to 2,341 MW as at end of June 2016, again according to data from Kenya Power. The State targets to produce 5,000MW in the next five years and has been wooing investors in energy distribution and generation.

President Uhuru Kenyatta recently invited the 50 French companies had pitched camp in the country to scout for investment opportunities to put money in energy distribution.

The move could see Kenya Power’s monopoly being challenged, something that the energy Bill (2017) that is still in Parliament proposes.

Addressing the French investors, the President said: “We have made Energy a national priority. We already have some French companies investing in energy generation, but we still want more to come. We also want others in energy distribution. We want access to electricity to citizens to grow from the current 60 per cent in the next five years.”