By Primerose Omoto
In a concerning trend, Kwale County has experienced a significant rise in vandalism incidents targeting the Kenya Power infrastructure.
The repeated acts of vandalism have primarily affected transformers and power line cables, leading to widespread power supply disruptions and substantial financial losses for the utility provider.
The surge in such criminal activities has prompted Kenya Power to join forces with security agencies and National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) to bolster surveillance measures and intensify crackdowns on the perpetrators.
“These collaborative efforts aim to curb the vandalism that not only causes power outages but also poses serious safety risks to the perpetrators and the public at large,” said Eng. Phineas Marete, Kenya Power coast regional manager.
In response to the vandalism, the company is compelled to increase the routine shifts for maintenance engineers.
“We often receive complaints about transformers that have been tampered with. On-site, we have noticed that coils and power cables are targeted and taken scrap yards for reselling in the black market,” added Billy Onyango, design and construction engineer.
Marete emphasized that the problem is a social issue.
“We have a responsibility as a society to identify individuals vandalizing infrastructure meant to benefit the community as a whole. By encouraging such individuals, we only succeed at hurting the economy and ourselves as the taxpayers and regular consumers of electricity,” he said.
Marete added that Kenya Power will continue to advocate for community involvement in protecting power installations and urge the public to report any suspicious activities.
He said the company encourages the public to be vigilant and report suspicious activities to their official customer hotline: 0712877915 or 0779672215.
The ongoing situation in Kwale County highlights the critical need for a concerted effort to address the vandalism of public utilities and ensure the uninterrupted provision of power to residents and businesses alike.
Kwale County is yet to meet its required spinning reserve capacity which is; the extra power-generating capacity of the generator that is already synchronized to the system grid.
“To meet this deficit, we have to incorporate other power generation sources such as geothermal – 45%, Hydroelectricity – 23%, Thermal – 8% and Solar – 4%,” said Marete.
