A video making rounds on social media shows a KETRACO technician's risky endeavour of walking on power line conductors in order to fix a technical hitch.
According to the video seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the technician is attached to snap hooks which are attached to a conductor. When one snap hook is unhooked for transfer to another location, the other hook stays in place to guarantee his safety.
The technician is seen heading to remove clamps from the conductors after the lines sagged during conductor stringing.
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"The Company through the Safety team has however committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment not just as moral and legal responsibility, but also as a prerequisite for it to achieve its primary mission of operating an efficient, effective, reliable, and safe national electricity transmission grid," read part of the statement from KETRACO.
This comes after a public outcry following the nationwide blackout experienced within the week. The outage has seen Kenyans take to social media to rant about Kenya Power over the blackout.
However, in their various statements, Kenya Power noted that KETRACO were experiencing delays restoring various power lines- hence bringing to attention the roles of each entity within electricity generation and transmission.
"KETRACO is experiencing a delay in restoration of the Suswa-Embakasi power line. Normal electricity supply will resume as soon as KETRACO's technical team complete the ongoing repair works," read part of a statement from Kenya Power on Wednesday, January 12.
On their FAQ page, KETRACO explained that it is a Government agency that is a parastatal within the Ministry of Energy. Their head offices are situated in Nairobi.
As pertaining to their roles, KenGen is responsible for generation of electricity. KETRACO, on the other hand, steps up the generated electricity and is responsible for the transmission to various substations. Kenya Power's role comes into play in the final stage where they distribute to consumers.
In addition, KETRACO also determines where to route a new transmission line. In order to determine this, the agency looks at the line's point of origin and termination. They also mitigate against adverse impacts in the places traversed by the line.
For those buildings situated along the wayleave corridor, the owners are compensated based on their replacement cost.
KETRACO also affirmed that underground transmission lines are done on a case-by-case basis, however, the agency noted that it would look into making it a viable option.
