Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror explained why planned power outages had increased in some parts of the country.
Appearing before the National Assembly's Energy Committee on Friday, October 25, the MD revealed that it was forced to cut power supply in some areas due to demand.
Siror explained that there were instances when the electricity demand was too high for the Kenya Power infrastructure.
Consequently, the company resorted to load shedding to resolve the supply and demand imbalance.
Read More
"The outdated system has led to frequent blackouts, exacerbated by the overload on existing evacuation lines. To address these disruptions, Kenya Power has been forced to resort to periodic load-shedding in certain areas in order to stabilize power supply when demand exceeds available capacity," read the statement by the Energy Committee.
On the other hand, he also acknowledged that there were increased cases of unplanned outages.
Siror revealed that some of the outages witnessed in recent months had been occasioned by the old systems used in the supply chain.
Therefore, to deal with the outages, the MD noted that the government would be forced to invest heavily in the power systems.
“Just as we invest in expanding other sectors of the economy, such as transport through road expansion, power is essential to economic growth."
"More attention and resources are needed to enhance and modernize power generation and transmission systems," he stated.
