EDITORIAL: Rise in power imports has exposed policy gaps

Editorials

EDITORIAL: Rise in power imports has exposed policy gaps

Tuesday, October 29, 2019 14:54

By EDITORIAL

Recent reports showing that Kenya increased its electricity imports by 63.7 percent in the first eight months betray a policy gap in a country that generates more power than it consumes.

Hundreds of gigawatt hours (GWh) of greener and cheaper geothermal power is lying idle in Naivasha because the State is yet to connect the source to the national grid.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that the country bought 153.06 gigawatt hours (GWh) from Uganda and 2.48 GWh from Ethiopia, between January and August.

In comparison, Kenya imported a total of 94.98GWh over a similar period last year.

To the Western Kenya households and firms, long used to power outages, any power source that proves more stable and cheaper than the Sh35-per-unit Muhoroni diesel-fired generator is welcome.

That probably explains why Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter has no qualms about telling Kenyans that the imports of hydro power from two landlocked neighbours come at half price.

Uganda, for instance, cut its power price from Sh22 per unit to Sh14 – and plans to lower this further to just Sh10 by end of this month, according to Mr Keter.

The truth, however, is that importing is a stop gap measure which cannot guarantee the long-term supply stability that the western region is looking forward to.

For one, hydro electric power is weather-dependent, and as such, we cannot bury our heads in the sand just because recent good rains have raised the production profile of Uganda.

Secondly, the 80kV power transmission line that connects Western Kenya to Sondu Miriu and Turkwel hydro-power stations cannot pass for a “stable” power line given demand growth of the region.

The ministry must move with speed to complete the 300-kilometre high-voltage power transmission line that it has been working on over the years if it is to resolve the twin problems of power cost and outages in Western Kenya.