Kengen Power Plants: The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (Kengen) might soon start selling power directly to consumers. In a move that will end Kenya Power’s monopoly, Kengen is awaiting the enforcement of the Energy Act to start the direct sale.
“The Energy Act 2019 has provision for us to sell power directly especially to large consumers. What is pending are the regulations of how that would be undertaken and how the infrastructure would be based. We are certain that when the regulations are ready, that possibility will be there,” KenGen Managing Director Rebecca Miano said.
This is the latest sign of troubled times for Kenya Power, which is currently complaining of dwindling revenues due to the adoption of solar power.
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“President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Energy Act in March 2019 into law but the regulations allowing other companies to apply for retail licences to sell electricity are yet to be set up. The law under Section 140 compels Kenya Power to provide non-discriminatory open access to its distribution system for use by any licensee, retailer or eligible consumer, but is silent on what charges should be levied for such access,” a report on this development that appeared in the Business Daily said. “The law also specifies that the distribution lines will remain property of Kenya Power even after a licensee pays fees to the firm to use the infrastructure.”
The report adds that KenGen will need a distribution licence and rely largely on the network built by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) which it currently uses to evacuate power from its generating plants.
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“A new power distributor would require new assets and thus there may be expensive duplication of roles,” Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter said.
KenGen currently which contributes over 70 percent of electric energy supply to the single off-taker. The firm has been planning to supply power to the upcoming industrial park in Olkaria, Naivasha before scaling up to the rest of the country. Kengen Power Plants.
