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Kenya to review electricity contracts, seeking lower costs

Xinhua, July 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday ordered a review of all contracts with independent power producers as part of efforts to cut power costs and widen coverage beyond the current 56 percent.

Kenyatta told a televised energy summit held in the capital Nairobi that the contracts should be pegged on performance to ensure Kenyans have access to reliable power at affordable rates.

"Those arrangements that are not cost-effective to the Kenyan people must be terminated -- in a legal way -- in the shortest time possible," Kenyatta said.

He said the private sector was a partner in widening access, but that costs would have to be checked.

"We want to encourage private sector participation in power generation but it must be done in a transparent manner to ensure Kenyans get maximum benefit," he said.

"Our objective of increasing supply and reliability in order to give access to electricity to all Kenyans at an affordable rate is firmly on course. But more important, we want to ensure that our industries are also able to access power that can make us globally competitive," he added.

The meeting brought together energy stakeholders, including heavy power consumers, small-scale consumers, and independent power producers and senior government officials.

Kenyatta expressed his satisfaction with the progress made in increasing access to electricity in the last three years as the access rate has risen to 56 percent from 27 percent in 2013.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter said the country was moving away from thermal power production, and that this would make electricity even cheaper.

Keter said the government had invested in the construction of more electricity substations and transmission lines to boost the availability of electricity.

The government has constructed and upgraded 81 power substations between 2013 and June this year.

Keter said the increased generation and availability had expanded the consumer base from 2.2 million households in March 2013 to 4.9 million households by June.

Keter expressed confidence that the country will achieve a 70 percent power access rate by June 2017 and universal access by 2020. Endit