President William Ruto has acknowledged that Kenya is rationing electricity to cope with an energy shortfall, marking the first public confirmation of load-shedding as blackouts increasingly disrupt homes and businesses across the country.
- •Speaking in Doha, Qatar during a meeting with Kenyans living abroad, President Ruto said that between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., the government is forced to cut power in some areas to keep the grid stable.
- •Over the past few weeks, there has been growing public frustration over frequent, patterned blackouts that Kenya Power has not officially explained.
- •While the company has blamed technical faults and routine maintenance for recent outages, the president’s remarks confirm that deliberate power rationing is possibly in effect.
“Today in Kenya, between 5 pm and 10 pm, we have to do load shedding. We have to shut off some areas to power other areas because our energy is insufficient,” President Ruto said.
The country's electricity demand has surged to 2,316 megawatts, the highest in five years, according to new data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). While the figures signal rising economic activity and expanded household access, they also confirm that consumption has caught up with Kenya’s total generation capacity, leaving the country with virtually no reserve margin.
The result is a fragile power system now forced to ration electricity during peak hours, even as energy officials tout record generation and clean-energy dominance.
President Ruto said that his administration has been particularly invested in transforming Kenya into an industrial and technological hub, but the country's power grid has been awfully low to sustain any major infrastructure including data centers and heavy manufacturing outlets.
“If we have to industrialize and engage in manufacturing, we need a minimum of 10,000 MW of energy,” the president said.
Ruto also reflected on his visit to Addis Ababa during the launch of the 5,400 MW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which he praised as a game-changing project that Kenya should emulate. During the launch of infrastructure at Konza City phase one last month, Ruto unveiled an ambitious KSh1.5 trillion plan to construct 50 mega-dams and expand irrigation across two million acres and increase the country's power generation capacity.
However, Kenya’s commitment to the construction of dams has been impeded over the decades by chronic budget inefficiency. Projects such as the Thwake Dam in Ukambani have witnessed delays in completion, while others like the Arror, Kimwarer, and Itare dams are notable names in the country's ledger of corruption scandals.
The Alternatives
For a long time, the country's hydroelectric power has relied on seven dams along the Tana River, which have been choked by aging infrastructure and erratic rainfall. Even geothermal power, which accounts for nearly 40% of the energy mix, remains below total output potential due to immense drilling costs for new sites.
Kenya has also sought to explore alternative energy generation in potential coal and nuclear power projects. However, these initiatives have been challenged by environmental activism over the years, stalling projects that could be crucial for increased electricity output.
Last October, the Environment and Land Court upheld the revocation of the environmental licence for the Sh200 billion Lamu coal power plant, effectively ending plans for the project. The ruling determined that the project violated constitutional guarantees to a clean environment and lacked proper public participation or assessment of climate and waste risks.
Meanwhile, the planned US$3.8 billion, 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant has been translocated from the Indian Ocean coast to the shores of Lake Victoria after mounting unease among environmentalists who perceived the project as a danger to coastal biodiversity. The nuclear energy project is slated to be completed by 2034.
The intersection between lower electricity generation and aging transmission infrastructure, largely due to inadequate investment, had continued to betray Kenya's aspirations for energy sufficiency. Furthermore, budgetary gridlocks have forced the state to opt for public-private partnerships (PPPs), which remain a source for controversy among many Kenyans.