Kenya Power Responds to Nationwide Blackout

Kenya Power Building in Nairobi CBD
Kenya Power Building in Nairobi CBD.
Twitter

UPDATE Thursday, November 24, Kenya Power released a statement informing Kenyans that it had restored power supply to the majority of its customers.



Some of the parts where power has been restored include Western, South Nyanza, North Rift, Central Rift and Nairobi.



"The cause of the system disturbance has been identified and is being addressed by KETRACO engineers, while our technical teams are working on restoration of power supply to the rest of the country, we will communicate the progress of the restoration exercise in subsequent updates," the statement read.


Kenya Power on Thursday, November 24, confirmed a nationwide power outage affecting various parts of the country. 

In a statement, Kenya power affirmed that the blackout was attributed to losing bulk power supply due to a system disturbance. 

The power utility assured Kenyans that its technical team was handling the issue to restore the situation. 

"We have lost bulk power supply to various parts of the country due to a system disturbance and we are working to restore

normalcy within the shortest time possible.

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Kenya Power engineers carry out repairs at a power sub-station in Mombasa County in 2018
Twitter

"An update on the restoration progress will be issued in due course. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused," read part of the statement. 

Kenyans took to social media to decry the outage some not understanding how the utility could be having outages even after adding more power to the grid from Ethiopia.

"Just the other day Kplc bought power from Ethiopia and they can't keep the grid stable, meanwhile there are power plants in Kenya on standby, resources are at your disposal but you have no idea how to use..,"  a user by name @salvagetweep tweeted.



"I operate a business that is dependent on electricity. Are going to get refunds for the losses incurred?"@kienyeji_ com asked.

Earlier in the day, KPLC explained the widespread power outage experienced across several estates in Nairobi.

In a release dated Thursday, November 24, Kenya Power explained that the interruption in power supply was caused by mechanical problems on several lines feeding the estates.

Among the feeder affected include the Breweries 1 line, which feeds several estates along the Thika Super Highway.



"Breweries 1 feeder line is off affecting Allsops, Babadogo, Qwetu apartments and adjacent Kamukunji -Muthurwa feeder line is off affecting Garissa Lodge Eastleigh, Starehe Boys, Gikomba and adjacent," the statement read in part.

The Ministry of Energy recently announced its plan to inject 200MW into the national grid, after a two-week“We are carrying out pre-commissioning tests that 

“We are carrying out pre-commissioning tests that will pave way for the injection of 200MW into the national grid,” a statement from the ministry of energy official revealed.

The current importation deal was signed between KPLC and Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) during former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration in July 2022.

Olkaria II geothermal power plant, Kenya.
Olkaria II geothermal power plant, Kenya.
File
Source: ARGeo