A massive outage hit Kenya Power and Lighting Company – KPLC on Sunday, December 10, at around 8pm, plunging the country into total darkness for hours.
For hours, Kenya Power worked hard to restore electricity to different regions.
By 2am, Monday, December 11, KPLC said in a statement that several regions were already back to the national grid.
“We are glad to report that power supply has been restored in the whole of Mt Kenya, South Nyanza, Western, Central Rift, North Rift, North-Eastern and most parts of Nairobi.
Restoration for Coast region and sections of Nairobi is ongoing.
We thank our customers for their patience and assure them that we are working round the clock to restore normalcy to the remaining areas as soon as possible,” KPLC stated.
At around 11pm, December 10, the company said it had restored power to most parts of Nairobi City.
“Several areas in Nairobi City and its environs are already back on electricity supply. These include parts of Ruaraka, Embakasi, JKIA, Parklands, Donholm, Umoja, Huruma, Westlands, Syokimau and Dandora.
Sections of Kisumu, Busia and Siaya are also back on supply.”
Cause of blackout
In a statement, Kenya Power said the blackout was caused by a fault that affected Power system.
The utility company assured Kenyans that it was doing everything possible to restore power.
“We have lost electricity supply to various parts of the country due to a suspected fault affecting the power system.
We are working to restore normalcy within the shortest time possible. An update on the restoration progress will be issued in due course,” said KPLC.
It added, “We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”
Critical installations across the country were not spared including the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – JKIA.
The countrywide power blackout struck exactly a month since the country plunged into total darkness on November 12.
Also Read: KPLC Update on Countrywide Power Blackout
In August the country experienced another major blackout, including JKIA.
At the time, Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen cracked the whip.
Murkomen sacked top managers at JKIA and promised that such would not occur again.
KPLC on spot over Blackouts
Kenyans slammed the management of Kenya Power for what they described as incompetence.
“Another nationwide power outage. What’s the problem with KPLC? The unpredictability of their services is a national shame!” ranted Dr Ezekiel Mutua.
Opposition chief Raila Odinga’s Secretary Dennis Onyango wondered why the regime was busy privatising other state corporations and sparing KPLC.
“Nationwide blackout on the eve of 60th Independence Anniversary celebrations. Yet it’s more urgent to privatize Kenya Pipeline and KICC, not KPLC, stated Onyango.
Also Read: Kenyans Roast Murkomen After JKIA Blackout
Some vented how KPLC’s constant blackouts were hurting businesses.
For others, JKIA was now a monument of international embarrassment and shame.
Cofek Secretary General Stephen Mutoro called out the Kenya Kwanza administration for not taming the frequent outages.
“Most unfortunate that the highest frequency of longest national blackouts has happened during the short time the Kenya Kwanza government has been in power.
The Ministry of Energy has particularly showed a lacklustre and casual response to the severity of the power outages – that were initially blamed on vandalism but are either sabotage (to necessitate emergency purchases of equipment) and/or some form of terrorism,” noted Mutoro.
