The National Assembly Committee on Energy chaired by Hon. Vincent Musyoka (Mwala) met the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Mr. David Chirchir to discuss the recent nationwide power outage that crippled critical services and disrupted businesses.

Members sought an explanation on what led to the 19-hour blackout that plunged the country into losses, identity of the persons liable for the power outage and the measures instituted by the Ministry to avoid blackout occurrences. 

The CS told the Committee that the blackout was unprecedented and that it was as a result of the system disturbance that led to a loss of 270 megawatts generation from the interconnected grid which in-turn resulted in system instability and loss of synchrony between generators causing system collapse.

The Kenya Power Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. (Eng.) Joseph Siror added that an interconnection link with Uganda could have helped to avoid the blackout but it was not operational at the time of system failure.

In order to facilitate compensation for the traders who experienced losses as a result of the blackout, the Committee demanded the identity of persons and State agencies responsible for the blackout.

“That person can only be Kenya Power, KETRACO or EPRA. We want to know the culprits and we shall get to the bottom of this,” said Hon. Musyoka.

To guarantee stability of power, the CS recommended lifting of the ban on signing of new Power Purchase Agreements (PPA). According to the CS this will enable the Ministry to replace retiring power plants in the country that are likely to cause power outages.