After a radical surgery that happened in the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the power company has posted some “crazy” numbers in form of profits.
KPLC posted 3.82 billion shillings in half-year profit within a period to December 2021, up from 138 million shillings during a similar period in 2020.
Profit before tax for the period under review was 5.66 billion shillings compared to 332 million shillings realized in a similar period the previous year. The electricity distributor bounced back to profitability last year after a series of losses.
At the same time, electricity sales recorded a 366GWh increase to 4,562GWh, an 8.7 percent growth compared to a similar period in 2020.
Non-fuel power purchase costs increased from 38.123 billion shillings incurred in the previous period to Shs 40.487 Billion mainly due to additional unit purchases to support increased demand.
Similarly, fuel costs increased from 4.618 billion to 10.871 billion shillings mainly due to a 314 GWh increase in units purchased from thermal plants to 709 GWh due to low hydrology resulting from delayed rains, and an upsurge in fuel prices.
Here is the full statement:
“This was driven by an increase in customer connectivity, as well as improved supply quality and reliability due to enhanced preventive maintenance works, network refurbishment, and accelerated faulty meter replacements,” said Kenya Power in a statement.
Combined with a 2.33 percent improvement in system efficiency which stood at 77.13 percent as of December 31, 2021, led to a 12.9 percent increase in electricity revenue which grew to Sh69.447 billion.
Operating costs decreased from Sh20.1 billion to Sh19 billion as a result of enhanced cost management and resource optimization initiatives that the company is implementing as part of its turnaround strategy.
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