Kenya Power MD Explains Why Western Kenya Faces Perennial Power Blackout

Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror has explained why the Western part of Kenya is often in darkness owing to power outages.  

The Western part of Kenya includes the Nyanza region and the former Western Kenya province. 

Speaking on Tuesday, the MD explained that the power outage in that part of Kenya is occasioned by constraints in the transmission network. 

"As an assurance to those groups of people and generally residents of this country, Last week the cabinet approved Sh16 billion which, part of the money, will be used to address such challenges," Siror said. 

"When having long lines, serving a particular part of a country is prone to challenges."

On power challenges facing parts of Kisii and Luo Nyanza, Siror said:

"The main problem facing that area is that the link between Muhoroni and Chemosit is constrained in capacity. The transmission link is unable to evacuate all the power that is needed in that part of the country."

To address the situation, Siror said they will reduce the long lines that supply power to those regions from the source. 

He said the parastatal tries its best to serve its 9.2 million customers well but because of challenges beyond its control, some areas experience power outages. 

Siror said some of the challenges experienced are occasioned by the rapid expansion the company is working on. 

"Many challenges have risen out of the government's bid to expand. Ten years ago we had two million customers, now we have 9.2 million customers. When you have such a vast network, you are likely to face challenges," Siror said. 

Kenyans have been facing power outages numerous times with the service provider issuing perennial alerts on the same nearly every day.