Many Kenyans experienced a widespread power blackout on Monday morning in what Kenya Power termed as a technical hitch at Ndenderu, a Nairobi North Substation.
“A technical fault occurred at Kenya Power substation in Ndenderu, (Nairobi North Substation) this morning cutting off supplies from Olkaria geothermal fields to the city and causing power outages affecting Nairobi, Coast and Mount Kenya regions,” read part of the brief statement released by the power company.
The General Manager for network management assured consumers that the technical teams were on the ground to ensure that power was normalized as quickly as possible. “We regret any inconvenience caused by the outage,” he said.
The blackout comes barely a month after Kenya Power assured their customers that the construction and completion of three power substations which consumed 18.47 billion shillings was meant to greatly reduce on the frequency of blackouts the country faces.
Towards the end of 2016, Kenya was hit by a nationwide blackout in another yet incident hat Kenya Power said that was caused by the interference of a monkey that fell on the transformer.
Kenyans took on the social media to pour out their frustrations that had been caused by the Monday morning power blackout. Here are some of their sentiments:
Whenever I see these companies trending: Kenya Airways, Uchumi, Kenya Power or "Moses Kuria" I always know something is wrong somewhere.
— Business Watch (@Business254_) December 30, 2016
we've been deliberately made reliant on Kenya Power monopoly..making billionaires off crooks to keep us mark timing in development..
— ✊🏿 (@_maich) January 9, 2017
C'mon @KenyaPower_Care
Some of us depend on power to survive.
Why would you want to aggravate the current terrible Njaanuary situation?— The Tweeting Maasai, MA. (@MartineSiameto) January 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/Kayelian1/status/818373884399513600
Many Kenyans are of the opinion that the fact that Kenya Power is the only sole distributor of electricity is what has led to the numerous failures and complacency in the sector. Most believe that the only way to solve problems at Kenya Power is to get a competitor in the same field.
In other news related to power, Kenyan’s electricity bill is likely to increase by the end of this month if water levels at Masinga Dam will remain low. That is according to Energy CS Charles Keter. He, however, said that if all comes to worst, the highest Kenyans will pay per unit will be 3.46 shillings.
Related: Kenya Power Appoints Dr. Ken Tarus as Acting Managing Director and CEO