Kenya Power has issued an update following a three-hour power outage that affected most parts of the country on Wednesday morning, December 18.
In its first update issued at 1:28 AM, Kenya Power announced a widespread power outage affecting most of the country except the Western and North Rift regions.
While the cause of the widespread outage was not given, Kenya Power noted that it was working to restore normalcy.
"We are experiencing a widespread power outage affecting most of the country except parts of Western and North Rift regions. The cause of this outage is yet to be determined.
"We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and request our customers to be patient as we work towards restoring normalcy at the earliest opportunity," the statement read.
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In a follow-up update at 04:55 AM, Kenya Power announced it had restored power in most parts of the country including sections of Nairobi and Mount Kenya regions.
"We are pleased to report that power has been restored to most parts of North Rift, Central Rift, Western Kenya, Southern Nyanza, and sections of Nairobi and Mount Kenya regions following a widespread outage.
"Our team is diligently working to restore supply to all the remaining areas. We thank our customers for their patience as we work towards full restoration of normal service," the statement read.
This comes two months after 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 October 25, 2024, he explained that Kenya Power was forced to cut power supply in some areas due to demand
"The outdated system has led to frequent blackouts, exacerbated by the overload on existing evacuation lines.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.
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, he suggested 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.
