KPLC: Kenyans Lament Over Apparent Nationwide Electricity Blackout

• Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) confirmed in a statement that the electricity outage had affected all parts of the country except the North Rift and parts of Western Kenya
• On the ground were the technicians of the utility firm striving to restore supply, this as Kenyans advanced their rage via social media
• Widespread power outages had been common in the recent past, with former Energy CS Davis Chirchir often getting himself in hot water over the matter

A widespread electricity outage was reported Friday evening, August 30.

What KPLC said after nationwide blackout

Kenya Power confirmed in an update, calling for patience among customers as its technicians strived to restore supply.

The state utility firm said North Rift and parts of Western Kenya had not been affected.

We have lost the power supply to various parts of the country except the North Rift region and sections of the Western region. We regret any inconvenience caused and urge for patience from our customers as we work towards restoring normalcy at the earliest opportunity. We will issue an update on the progress of the power restoration exercise as soon as possible," KPLC said.

How Kenyans reacted to power blackout

Earlier, Kenyans had camped on social media to lament.

See some of the reactions below;

How Ruto's gov't wanted to end endless power outages

Last year, the government announced plans to introduce load-shedding to end the incessant nationwide blackouts.

Then Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir explained that the abrupt surge in power through the Juja-Lessos-Muhoroni link often caused an overload at Olkaria 2 transformers and the Dandora-Juja transmission link, leading to a power outage as the power lines dropped.

The CS assured Kenyans that they knew what the problem was and had plans underway to stop the blackouts.

Chirchir noted that the government was planning to begin load shedding to reduce strain on power lines in some areas; however, he said it would be a form of scheduling so that the entire national grid does not fail.

What is load shedding?

According to KPLC, load shedding is the act or practice of temporarily reducing the supply of electricity to an area to avoid overloading the generators and it is most often applied to ensure continuity to a smaller number of customers when demand for electricity exceeds supply.

This means that once the government begins the load-shedding schedule, some parts of the country will be cut off from the grid for some time.