A massive power blackout hit most parts of the country on Saturday, November 11 at around 8.30pm, thrusting the Kenya Power and Lighting Company – KPLC into the limelight.
In a statement, KPLC confirmed the outage, describing it as ‘partial’ adding that its technical team was doing everything possible to restore the power supply.
“We have lost power supply to parts of the country. Our engineers are working to restore supply to the affected areas.
We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused. An update on restoration progress and the cause of the power outage will be issued later,” read part of a statement by Kenya Power.
At around 10pm, the power distributor said it had restored the power supply to several regions.
“We are glad to report that sections of Mt Kenya, Nyanza, Western and North Rift are on supply, and that restoration for the remaining parts of the country is progressing well.
We wish to thank our customers for their patience as we work to restore normalcy. Another update will be issued shortly,” KPLC said in a statement.
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KPLC outage hits JKIA hit again
There were reports that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – JKIA had also plunged into darkness following the outage.
The Kenya Airports Authority confirmed that the crucial facility was affected even though the outage did not last long.
“At approximately 8PM today, JKIA experienced a disruption in power supply due to an outage from the national grid. The airport’s backup generators were activated, with full restoration of power occurring within 8 – 20 mins,” noted KAA in a press statement.
In addition, the authority explained that it was yet to complete works on the airport’s backup system.
“Our other facilities reinstated their power supply in a considerably shorter duration.
The synchronization of the outstanding backup power supply is scheduled to be completed in the next 30 days in readiness for instant backup support in the event of any power interruption.”
Another Blackout
In late August, the country experienced a power blackout that lasted for hours, hitting JKIA as well.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen cracked the whip, sacking top managers at JKIA for sleeping on the job.
At the time, Murkomen apologized to Kenyans and visitors and promised that the same would not happen again under his watch.
Consequently, the August blackout claimed the then Kenya Airports Authority Managing Director Alex Gitari.
Murkomen replaced Gitari with Henry Ogoye as the acting MD. Until the changes, Ogoye was serving as the head of corporate planning at KAA.
Also Read: Top Managers Fired After JKIA Blackout
To prevent future blackouts at JKIA, the CS ordered the commissioning of two generators procured two years ago.
“I assure the country and the world that we have taken measures to enhance the capacity of technical experts in the engineering department to ensure this incident does not recur,” explained the CS.
