By NEVILLE OTUKI
Industrialists have called for speedy connection
of dedicated power lines to large businesses following a four-hour
blackout that hit key economic hubs of Nairobi, Nakuru, Mount Kenya and
the Coast on Monday.
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) said
large power consumers are most exposed whenever there is an unforeseen
collapse in the power system, thus the need to have separate lines.
This came after several parts of the country
experienced a blackout between 11.25am and 2.30pm, crippling business
operations, especially industries.
“Kenya Power
should expedite the setting up of alternative power lines for large
businesses to avoid such occurrences which often result in losses,” said
KAM chief executive Betty Maina.
Kenya Power recently announced it would invest Sh2
billion in creating additional power lines in the next two years
targeted at heavy power consumers. This follows previous system
collapse.
The bourse-listed power distributor, however, had yet to establish the cause of the outage by the time we went to press.
“Currently, generation system logs are being
analysed by the respective generation entities at the Coast to determine
what triggered the outage of the machines,” said Migwi Theuri, Kenya
Power’s deputy communications manager.
This comes amid fears of load-shedding following
low-water levels in hydroelectricity generating zones due to rain
delays. The utility has now resorted to heavy use of expensive
diesel-powered generators.
The fuel adjustment surcharges on this month’s electricity bills are set to rise to a two-year high.
The Energy Regulatory Commission recently said it
will raise the fuel surcharge from the current Sh5.19 to Sh7.22 on bills
to be settled next month.
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