Kenya connected 253,480 new customers to the national grid in the first half of the current financial year to December 2023, new data by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) shows.
According to the Bi-Annual Energy and Petroleum Statistics Report by the regulator, the new connections took cumulative grid-connected customer base to 9,456,158.
“This marks a significant increase in new customer connections compared to the first half of the year, which saw a total of 161,499 new connections,” said EPRA.
Customers in Nairobi accounted for the largest share of power use in the country after utilizing 2,293.95 Giga-Watt hours (GWh) of electricity accounting for 44.07pc of the country’s total energy consumption.
“Covering parts of Kajiado, Machakos, and Makueni counties, the region stands out with its dense concentration of large and medium industries, micro and small enterprises, making it the commercial hub of both the country and the East African Community (EAC) region,” stated EPRA in the report.
Coast region which utilized 930.05GWh of energy consumed during the period constituted 17.87pc of the country’s total energy consumption followed by Rift Valley region which accounted for 13.55pc of the total consumption after utilizing 705.48GWh of electrical energy.
North-Eastern with 561.20GWh of energy consumption accounted for 10.78pc of total energy consumption followed by Mt. Kenya with 6.47pc after utilizing 336.76GWh of electricity.
Lowest consumption was registered in West Kenya and South Nyanza regions whose consumptions stood at 5.35pc and 1.92pc of the total consumption, respectively.
During the period under review total energy consumption by industrial, domestic, electric vehicles, SMEs and street lighting stood at 5,205.79GWh.
Industrial consumers accounted for 51.99pc of power utilized during the period, followed by domestic consumers with 30.72pc. EVs, SMEs and street lighting accounted for 0.01pc, 16.19pc and 1.08pc.
EPRA says total power generated during the period rose to 6,805.28GWh.
“Renewable energy sources dominated, constituting 84.93pc of the total energy generated. Geothermal held its position as the primary source, contributing 44.6pc to the overall energy generated. Hydro followed with 22.5pc, while wind and solar accounted for 14.3pc and 3.5pc, respectively.”
Electricity imports contributed 6.2% or 419.13GWh to the total energy mix.
