Prime
Uganda's electricity exports to Kenya hit historic high
A power technician fixes a transmission line. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Kenya Power ruled out power rationing, adding that the rains expected from next month look set to boost water in the dams.
Nairobi. Electricity imports from Uganda hit a historic high in January as Kenya sought more power to plug a shortfalls from drought-hit hydroelectric dams.
Kenya imported 20.87 million kilowatt hours (kWh) from Uganda in the first month of the year, which is equivalent to four months of power that Nairobi has been importing from Kampala.
The drought, which has hit large parts of northern Kenya, Coast and Eastern, has particularly affected water level on dams, forcing power generation companies to switch to use of diesel, pushing up the cost of power bills.
Thermal power is expensive and it is only produced when there is a shortage of cheaper hydropower and available geothermal energy has been fully injected into the grid.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said it had stepped up Uganda imports because they are cheaper compared with thermal power.
“This is one of our strategies to ensure thermal use does not rise so much,” said Joseph Oketch, the director of electricity at the ERC.
The country has a direct transmission line (132 kilovolt) connecting with Uganda via Tororo, allowing injection of bulk electricity to the Kenyan grid.
Import from Uganda is largely cheaper hydropower and has grown from 12.2 million units last December and 4.8 million units in January last year. A unit of hydro on average goes for KSh3 compared with Sh20 for thermal.
The ERC data shows that Kenyan power exports to Kampala stood at 720,000 units in January.
20-month low
Hydropower generation dipped to a 20-month low in January at 252 million units, due to depressed dam water levels as the drought ravaged the country.
The supply shortfall was plugged by increased intake of a mix of imports, geothermal power and expensive diesel-fired electricity.
Kenyan homes and businesses consumed 829 million kWh of power in January.
Geothermal accounted for 45.8 per cent, followed by hydro-electric power (30.3 per cent from 35 per cent a month earlier), while thermal grew to 23.7 per cent from 18.6 per cent in December.
The fuel cost levy, which is levied on consumer bills and paid to diesel power generators, has remained unchanged at Sh2.85 per unit since December.
Presently, homes consuming 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) pay Sh3,691 up from Sh3,398 same month last year, or Sh293 more.
Official data shows that power imports from Uganda last year jumped 47 per cent to 83.2 million units.
No transmission line
There is, however, no transmission line connecting the two countries, impeding bulk power trade.
Nairobi stopped buying power from Dar es Salaam last year.
“Kenya and Tanzania have cross border electrification arrangement in which Tanzania sells power to Kenya’s parts not connected to the national grid via Lunga Lunga as Kenya sells to Tanzania via Namanga,” the ERC said.
Kenya Power ruled out power rationing, adding that the rains expected from next month look set to boost water in the dams.
