Kenya’s Demand for Electricity Hit the 1600 Megawatt Mark in September

The peak demand for electricity for Kenya hit past the 1600 megawatt mark in the Month of September 2016 for the first time in three years.

In an announcement made by Kenya Power on Monday, the peak demand moved from 1500 witnessed three years ago to 1600 by the end of September this year with the country’s power generating capacity standing at 2300 megawatts.

According to Energy Regulatory Commission, ERC, the demand for Kenya’s electricity is likely to hit 2800 megawatts by the year 2020 with the plan of the government to grow power generation from 1708 to 5000 seeming to be moving at a snail’s pace and many argue that the demand will soon overtake the process.

At the same time, Kenya Power has announced that by June 2017, at least 1.5 million customers would have been connected to the National Grid with a target of hitting nine million by the year 2020 and in line with vision 2030.

The power provider already has more than five million customers connected to the grid and that this year alone, they have already connected 300,000 customers to the national grid.

One of the major challenge that has been blamed for driving the economy sluggishly in the country is power with many investors shying away from trading in the country due to high energy costs from fuel to electricity.

Kenya Power still relies to diesel-powered generators to generate electricity something that has always affected the prices especially whenever fuel prices are increased. Numerous blackouts are another challenge that the company has to cope with as many customers have been affected across the country for hours.

Some quarters have blamed Kenya Power for taking advantage of the fact that it is the only power provider in the country to exploit Kenyans and investors.