Politics and policy
By NEVILLE OTUKI
In Summary
- Kenya Power did not buy electricity from Tanzania in the year to October having imported 1.1 million units (kilowatt hours) from Dar es Salaam during the same period last year.
- Kenya’s coastal towns of Lunga Lunga and Vanga have been hooked to the Tanzanian power grid because they were not linked to the local electricity network.
- The Business Daily failed to establish from Kenya Power whether the two towns are now connected to the Kenyan grid.
Kenya has stopped electricity imports from Tanzania and stepped up power sales to Dar es Salaam following increased generation.
Official data shows that Kenya Power
did not buy electricity from Tanzania in the year to October having
imported 1.1 million units (kilowatt hours) from Dar es Salaam during
the same period last year.
Nairobi sold 1.8 million units of power to Tanzania, up from 1.1 million units in January to October last year.
Kenya’s coastal towns of Lunga Lunga and Vanga have
been hooked to the Tanzanian power grid because they were not linked to
the local electricity network.
“Kenya and Tanzania have cross border
electrification which is small power trade whereby Tanzania sells power
to Kenya’s parts not connected to the national grid via Lunga Lunga as
Kenya sells to Tanzania via Namanga,” said Joseph Oketch, director
of electricity at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“It is not a power pool trade and therefore it
fluctuates because there is no transmission line connecting the two
countries as is the case with Uganda where we have a line via Tororo.”
The Business Daily failed to establish from Kenya Power whether the two towns are now connected to the Kenyan grid.
The country injected additional 280 megawatts of
geothermal electricity to the grid between August and December last
year, easing demand for power imports and creating more room for sales.
The country has more than halved total electricity
imports to 46.5 million units, largely from neighbouring Uganda, in the
review period from 99.8 million units and increased exports to 38.8
million units from 19.8 million units.
“The country has increased power sales and cut
imports largely due to the additional geothermal energy to the grid,”
the ERC senior manager for economic regulation John Mutua said earlier.
Uganda, which is pushing for increased trade with
Kenya, bought the bulk of Kenya’s power exports (95 per cent) at 37
million units in the year to October, up from 18.6 million units last
year.
Kenya bought 44.2 million units of power from
Kampala, down from 95.7 million units in 2014 between January and
October – marking a 53 per cent cutback.
Kenya also imports power from Ethiopia to feed the
neighbouring Moyale town, which is not linked to the national
electricity grid.
Kenya had last year stepped up imports from Uganda
to meet growing need for power driven by rising demand from
industrialists and increased customer connections, particularly in rural
areas.
Kenya Power managing director Ben Chumo in September said Kenya
would export 30 megawatts of electricity to Rwanda “in the next three
months”. He could not be reached on phone for comment.
The country plans to construct a Sh5.3 billion power
transmission line from January to link it with Tanzania that will
further boost power trade
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