Money Markets
By Pavel Robert Oimeke
In Summary
- The level of electricity connectivity in Kenya is still quite low at about 18 per cent.
- Low purchasing power of Kenyans in a number of counties makes it impossible for them to get grid connection despite being within a radius of 600 meters of a power transformer.
- As Kenya strives towards an additional 5000+MW of additional power, then need to come up with innovative financing schemes or affordable charges for electricity connections will become more pressing.
A number of interrelated factors are silently
and progressively pushing Kenya towards development and utilisation of
mini grids.
This dynamic push may catch key policy makers in
the energy sector, the national government and the county governments
flat footed.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) defines a
mini grid as “a set of electricity generators and, possibly, energy
storage systems interconnected to a distribution network that supplies
the entire electricity demand of a localised group of customers. This
power delivery architecture can be contrasted with single customer
systems, for instance, solar home systems, where there is no
distribution network interconnecting customers, and with centralised
grid systems, where electrical energy is transmitted over large
distances from large central generators and local generators are
generally not capable of meeting local demand.”
The level of electricity connectivity in Kenya is
still quite low at about 18 per cent, according to the Kenya Population
and Building Census of 2009.
The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 divided the
country into 47 counties to facilitate rapid developed, service
provision and delivery to all Kenyans.
Statistics from the Kenya census of 2009 shows
that Turkana at 2.45 per cent, Tana River (2.5 per cent), Mandera (2.55
per cent) and West Pokot (2.6 per cent) have the least electricity
connectivity rates.
Nairobi leads the counties at a connectivity rate
of 72.37 per cent while Mombasa and Kiambu come second and third at
59.02 per cent and 53 per cent respectively.
Other counties like Busia, Nyamira, Samburu,
Nandi, Vihiga, Elgeyo Marakwet, Marsabit, Kisii, Trans Nzoia, and
Baringo have a connectivity of less than 10 per cent, according to the
same census of 2009.
The county governments, in close collaboration
with the national government, have a daunting task to develop
appropriate strategies to minimise energy poverty levels, more
especially in counties with electricity connectivity of less than 10 per
cent.
The electricity connection charge, that currently
stands at Sh34,980 for single phase connection, is one of the factors
that is contributing to low connectivity in areas that already have high
electricity access.
In Kenya, electricity access is said to be 100 per
cent if all residences and commercial establishments are within a
radius of 600 meters of a distribution power transformer; even if not
connected to the grid.
A number of counties with electricity connectivity
above 10 per cent have been noted to have access rates of over 50 per
cent, while in some access is at 100 per cent.
The low purchasing power of Kenyans in these
counties makes it impossible for them to get grid connection despite
being within a radius of 600 meters of a power transformer.
A number of initiatives, both by the Kenya Power
and the government, for instance the electricity connection loan
popularly known as “Stima Loan” and “subsidised” connection charges have
not borne much fruit in catalysing electricity connectivity in these
areas.
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