Planned power blackouts to affect Nairobi and parts of Kisii County
Several parts of Nairobi will experience power cuts today, Sunday, December 17, 2023, Kenya Power has announced.
In a statement, Kenya Power said the areas will be affected by planned power cuts.
“Good evening, the listed areas will be affected by planned power outages tomorrow. The interruption is part of network maintenance,” the power utility said in a statement issued on Saturday, December 16, 2023.
Two counties will be affected by the blackout, which in turn will affect business people who rely on electricity to run their businesses. The counties are Nairobi and parts of Kisii County.
In Nairobi County, the listed areas that will be affected include the Industrial Area, parts of Mathare, and Huruma slums.
In the Industrial Area, the specific places that will experience the power cuts include Chogoria Road.
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Other specific locations include APS Limited, P Square Industries Limited, Samurai, Mash Poa Warehouse, Pioneer Plumbers Limited, Carmax Auto Spares Limited, Ramraj Complex, and adjoining customers.
In Mathare Slums, the affected areas include Mathare North in areas one, two, and three, Naivas Outering Road, Shell Petrol Station, Outering Road and adjoining customers.
In Huruma slums, the areas to be affected include Moi Forces Academy, Nissi Petrol Station, Redeemed Church, Huruma, and adjoining customers.
In Kisii County, specific areas that will be affected include Christamarian Hospital and Botori.
Other areas within the same county that will be affected include Soko Mjinga, Daraja Mbili Market, Nyanchwa Police Station, Nyaboke Flats, Nyanchwa Girls, Ekerore, Treasury Kisii County, Kisii Golf Club, Rangi Mbili, Kisii State Lodge and adjoining customers.
This comes at a time when the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has announced a number of measures aimed at curbing the frequent power outages in the country.
Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Energy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Davis Chirchir said the normal transmission of power was caused by the high demand for electricity, which caused the western supply line to trip.
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“The intervention that we are going to sit down with the engineers to give you some straight answers as we look you in the eye is load shedding, instead of overloading a line and causing the whole country to trip, we are going to remove some feeders and therefore reduce the demand for electricity that flows through a line,” he said.
CS Chirchir attributed this to a lack of investment in generation and transmission, which is the root of the challenge.
“We will do it in a very structured way, we will communicate through you (media) and through our leadership to be able to understand which region we will be working in. We will be very limited. It will be a very limited rationing of power, where power is limited. It will only happen during peak hours,” the CS said.
The CS revealed that he was also a victim of the blackout on his way into the country when power went off at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when he was being cleared, hence taking time before leaving the airport.