•The CS was expected before the House team on Tuesday but sent his apologies through a Kenya Power manager whom MPs sent away.
•Engineer Aggrey Machasio was denied audience before the committee after members insisted on the CS’s presence.
Image: FILE
Lawmakers want Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter forced to appear before them to shed light on stalled power installation projects in the country.
Energy committee chairman David Gikaria (Nakuru East MP) said the minister has failed to appear before them several times.
The CS was expected before the House team on Tuesday but sent his apologies through a Kenya Power manager whom MPs sent away.
Engineer Aggrey Machasio was denied audience before the committee after members insisted on the CS’s presence.
MPs want Keter to respond to concerns that a number of Last Mile Connectivity projects are complete but the lines cannot be put to use for lack of meters.
They said the situation may come to work against the initiative which is among President Uhuru Kenyatta's flagship ventures.
Lawmakers also want a review of power purchase agreements which they say have subjected Kenya Power to perennial losses, and expensive electricity for consumers.
“We want him to help us understand why for instance Kenya Power buys 3,000 megawatts of power from producers of which only 1,800 MW are used,” Gikaria told journalists.
He said they also want a conversation with the CS on the cost at which KPLC is buying power from independent power producers and how the same relates to the costly bills customers are subjected to.
It is reported that KPLC pays power producers using diesel-driven generators at Sh23 yet the same can be provided by KenGen at as low as five cents.
MPs also want Keter in the House to answer the question of faulty transformers dotting various regions and the delays in their installation.
Peter Mbugua, managing director Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Commission, said the projects were delayed by Covid19 movement restrictions.
“Our teams are back and are now in the field. The delay was because of the virus situation and we hope to complete most of the projects by June,” he told MPs.
He said their role in the power value chain is to install the grid but maintenance and operationalisation of the same is handled by Kenya Power.
But Gikaria, saying that everyone was up in arms about challenges with power connectivity, restated that it was important to look at some of the issues raised.
Members of the committee Wanjiku Kibe (Gatundu North), Walter Owino (Awendo), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Joseph Limo (Kipkelion East), Wajir East MP Rashid Amin, and Tharaka’s Gitonga Murungara backed the call for summonses to the CS.
“If MPs’ questions and phone calls are not being responded to, what of the common mwananchi? We need to call the entire power team here,” Gikaria said.
Rashid, the Wajir East MP, said their region has become “a graveyard of obsolete, disused generators.”
The committee said they had observed the CS has been attending Senate meetings 'knowing too well that the recommendations would be shelved.'