kenyan Mps must be joking,,,KPL owns the lines am yet to see who is this private guy who will come up with lines and then connect the kenyans,surely kpl is not telkom...

@Tupac imagine the company even getting way leaves ...so what happens three companies are licensed ..does it mean there will three posts in my compound and with magnetic field how will the lines be???

Who owns that transmission line? We should be focusing on cutting the westage/inefficiencies at kpc.
The new competitor can get all the unconnected regions and new cities but those already on the grid,PRAY for kpc, in light and in darkness.

Waaa!!....There is a lot of ignorance here.I actually don't know where to start in trying to demystify power distribution.

I disagree with the naysayers. KPLC has monopoly of the old transmission technology, transformers, overhead lines, wooden posts etc. In SA domestic power lines are laid underground, distribution controlled automatically with zero cases of loss of life and damaged appliances. Competitors DO NOT need to use old KPLC infrastructure.

@Guks, twende kazi...step by step...and then uniambie kwa nini hii government ya Kamwana imeongeza connection fee (from about 33,000/35,000 to a whooping 70,000/75,000)..How will we achieve rural electrification?

History and Milestones

1875: Seyyied Bargash, the Sultan of Zanzibar, acquires a generator to light his palace and nearby streets.

1908: Harrali Esmailjee Jeevanjee, a wealthy merchant in Mombasa, acquires the generator and transfers it to the Mombasa Electric Power and Lighting Company.

1908: Around the same time, an engineer, Mr Clement Hertzel, is granted the exclusive right to supply electricity to the then district and town of Nairobi. This leads to the formation of the Nairobi Power and Lighting Syndicate.

1922: The two utilities in Nairobi and Mombasa are merged under a new company incorporated as the East African Power and Lighting Company (EAP&L).

1932: EAP&L acquires a controlling interest in the Tanganyika Electricity Supply Company Limited (TANESCO).

1936: EAP&L obtains generating and distribution licenses for Uganda, thereby entrenching its presence in the East African region.

1948: The Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) is established by the Ugandan Government to take over distribution of electricity in the country.

1954: The Kenya Power Company (KPC) is created - to be managed by EAP&L - for the purpose of transmitting power from Uganda through the Tororo-Juja line.

1964: EAP&L sells its majority stockholding in TANESCO to the Government of Tanzania.

1983: With its operations confined only to Kenya, EAP&L is renamed The Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited (KPLC).

1997: The functions of generation are split from transmission and distribution. The Kenya Power Company, which has been under the management of KPLC since 1954, becomes a separate entity responsible for public-funded power generation projects.

1998: The Kenya Power Company is re-launched as the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).

2004: The Energy Sector Recovery Project (ESRP) is started to rehabilitate and reinforce the transmission and distribution network in order to improve the quality and reliability of supply, reduce system losses and increase access to electricity.

2007: Rural Electrification Authority (REA) is established to speed up the implementation pace of the rural electrification programme.

2008: Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) is incorporated by the government to accelerate transmission infrastructure development.

2008: The government incorporates the Geothermal Development Company tasked with developing steam fields to reduce upstream power development risks so as to promote rapid development of geothermal electric power.

2011: The Kenya Power and Lighting Company rebrands to Kenya Power.