The government has increased its allocation for subsidized home connections to the national grid by Ksh.1.48 billion for the fiscal year beginning July, giving hope to thousands of households that have yet to receive electricity.
According to the National Treasury’s newest spending plans, Ksh.5.8 billion has been set aside for the Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP), with the Government contributing Ksh.800 million and the remainder coming from Foreign sources.
The allocation is a 34.36 percent jump from the Ksh.4.31 billion that was approved for the programme in the current financial year 2021/23.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said the state expects to connect 2.4 million homes to subsidized power in the year beginning last July as part of efforts to move closer to the ambitious goal of universal electricity access.
The initiative attempts to expand the low-voltage system across the country, with the goal of benefiting counties with low power penetration rates the most. The project’s last phase is projected to connect about 300,000 clients, bringing the total number of households with electricity to about 1.5 million.
Kenya Power registered a Ksh.3.8 billion net profit in six months to December 31, 2021, on the back of ongoing reforms that were initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
This is compared to Ksh.138 million the power utility posted in the same period in 2020.
Pretax profit for the period under review was Ksh.5.6 billion compared to Ksh.332 million that was recorded in the same period in 2020.
“This was driven by an increase in customer connectivity, as well as improved supply quality and reliability due to enhanced preventive maintenance works, network refurbishment and accelerated faulty meter replacements,” said Kenya Power .
