Rising Demand Drives Kenya's Power Consumption Boom

Kenya used a lot of electricity in October—934.54 million units, more than ever before. The old record was 923.13 million units in August.

October's electricity use was up 1.2% from August and 6.5% from October 2023, when Kenya used 877.48 million units.

Businesses and factories used the most electricity. They helped Kenya Power make more money. Kenya Power sells the electricity.

Kenya Power's report says they sold 5,415 gigawatt-hours to businesses in the year ending June 2024. That's 5.4% more than the year before. They made 117.6 billion shillings from these sales. The year before, they made 97.5 billion shillings.

More people are using electricity in Kenya. Kenya Power and REREC added 294,806 new customers in June 2024. REREC helps bring electricity to rural areas.

Kenya Power said they're selling more because:

• More people want electricity
• The system works better
• Electricity is more reliable

Kenya makes electricity in many ways. It uses water, heat from the earth, oil, the sun, wind, and other things. It also buys some electricity from Uganda and Ethiopia. It just connected to Tanzania to buy and sell electricity.

Kenya sometimes has a hard time keeping up with the amount of electricity people want, so it has to ration it.

Kenya Power thinks people will keep wanting more electricity. One reason is electric cars. In October, charging electric cars used 1.2 gigawatt-hours.

Kenya Power has ideas to get people to use more electricity:

• They charge factories less at certain times.
• They want people to cook with electricity.

Kenya is using more electricity, which is good for Kenya Power. They're working hard to make enough for everyone.