• The system is set to be a relief to homes with solar plants and produces excess power which easily goes to waste with low household consumption.
• Kenya Power customer service general manager Rosemary Oduor said the process will only come into use once the technical aspects have been addressed.
Kenyan households will soon sell any excess power to the main distributor, according to the Energy Act 2019.
Under the new law, the metering system, will allow producers to connect to the national grid feeding in not more than one megawatt of power.
A consumer who owns an electric power generator of a capacity not exceeding one megawatt may apply to enter into a net-metering system agreement.
The system will credit solar or wind energy owners for the electricity they add to the grid, offsetting their expenses when they use Kenya Power electricity.
It is set to be a relief to homes with solar plants and produce excess power which goes to waste due to low household consumption.
Kenya Power customer service general manager Rosemary Oduor said the process will only come into use once the technical aspects have been addressed.
“We will be concerned where the power is coming from, where and what time especially since there are times when consumption is low on the national grid,” Odour said.
The company is also in the process of improving their metre system for the uptake.
The system comes at a time when electricity bills have been on an upward trend.
This has led to continued installation of solar systems in firms, industries and malls around the country who form the largest share of consumers with the main distributor.
Oduor said the shift to solar power by large consumers has had an impact on their revenues.
“We are positioning ourselves to work in a competitive environment. But meanwhile with the defection we will have to convince some to stay,” she said.
Some of the malls that have pted for solar energy include Galleria Shopping Mall which recently signed an agreement with Solarcentury to develop a 562kWp solar power system, providing 50 per cent of its daytime power needs.
Garden City Mall has a solar plant that generates 1,256 Megawatt hours annually from 3,300 solar panels saving about Sh31.6 million annually from power bills.
Two Rivers Mall solar project is expected to produce about two megawatts to be complemented by electricity from Kenya Power.