- In the last financial year, the company targeted a three per cent reduction from 23.65 per cent.
- However, by the close of the year the losses recorded stood at 23.95 per cent.
System loss reduction is one of the five key focus areas of Kenya Power's turnaround strategy.
The others are improved customer experience, sales growth, enhanced revenue collection and cost management.
System losses take two forms: technical losses, which are inherent in the distribution process. They account for about 12.1 per cent. The other is commercial losses which are the result of pilferage, mostly at the end-user point. This accounts for 11.85 per cent of the total.
In the last financial year, the company targeted a three per cent reduction from 23.65 per cent.
However, by the close of the year the losses recorded stood at 23.95 per cent.
A slight reduction of 0.41 was realised in commercial losses but was negated by increased technical losses due to the relocation of the electricity infrastructure along Nairobi Expressway, which is under construction.
The vandalism that affected an underground sub-transmission line in Nairobi resulted in load redistribution and occasional load shedding.
The poor loss reduction was aggravated by the non-completion and commissioning of the Suswa-Lessos-Kisumu line, which was expected to reduce technical losses by at least 0.98per cent. The absence was the continued load management activities within Western Kenya region.
The slight improvement in the commercial loss was a result of focused effort by management supported by data analytics and technology through a war room strategy that saw staff across the company involved in the exercise.
These results were mainly achieved in the second half of the year, building on a momentum that if maintained in the current year, will result in a targeted reduction.
With the improved focused strategy and the now repaired vandalised network and the commissioned Suswa-Lessos-Kisumu line, this should be achieved.
In the last seven years, Kenya Power’s customer base has grown by over 300 per cent from 2.3 million to 8.3 million account holders today. This exponential growth comes with its own operational challenges, amongst them, an increase in non-vends and zero vends
There are two types of classifications for these kinds of meters: Non-vends, which describes meters installed in new premises that have not yet vended. Zero vends are meters, which vend intermittently.
Zero vends are mainly driven by lack of occupancy either due to relocation or travel or due to gaps caused by tenancy changes.
They are also caused by electricity pilferage including bypassed meters or tampered with installations.
To address the issue of pilferage, the company has adopted smart ways of carrying out our operations through the use of technology and analytics so as to address the issue in a sustainable manner.