Major Power Outage Hits Kenya, Affects Internet Access

Kenya suffered a widespread power outage on Tuesday and Wednesday that affected most of the country, the leading power utility Kenya Power said. 

The cause of the outage in East Africa’s largest economy, which was ongoing as of Gam, is the latest in a series of recurring power outages the country has faced over the past year.

“We will provide an update on the progress of the power restoration process in due course,” Kenya Power said, adding that the cause of the outage is yet to be determined.

Kenya Power supplies power to more than 9.6 million customers in Kenya, according to a post on X.

The blackout significantly reduced internet connectivity across the country, said Netblocks, a global observatory that monitors internet access.

The outage also affected neighbouring Tanzania, the observatory added in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Power was restored to most parts of the country that had been affected by the Tuesday night outage.

Kenya Power in their latest update on the issue said teams from the company were working to restore power to the rest of the areas.

“We are pleased to report that power has been restored to most parts of North Rift, Central Rift, Western Kenya, South Nyanza and sections of Nairobi and Mt Kenya regions following a widespread outage,” the statement issued on Wednesday morning said.

“Our team is diligently working to restore supply to all the remaining areas,” it said.

In an update issued at 1.28 am, the utility company confirmed there was a widespread power outage affecting most of the country except parts of the western and North Rift regions.

As at 5 am, power had been restored in most parts of the country, but some Kenyans, especially in Nairobi woke up in darkness.

It is not the first time such an incident happens in the country amid calls for reforms in the sector.