This archive report was first published on 8 July 2021.
Kenya has made a remarkable leap in reducing the population without access to electricity, ranking the country as the top performer globally in this area.
According to the 2021 Energy Progress Report, a partnership between the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, Kenya's electrification pace has surpassed population growth, a testament to the impact of the government's focus on rural areas over the past decade.
The report highlights Kenya's annualized increase in electricity access between 2010 and 2019 as 5.6 percent, the highest among the top 20 countries with the largest electricity access gap.
Kenya's growth in electrification has been driven by the government's last-mile connectivity programme, launched in 2014, which targeted rural areas. The programme has been supported by off-grid solutions such as solar power.
Kenya's growth in electrification has outpaced the world's average growth of 0.8 percent, with Bangladesh (4.1 percent), Uganda (3.2 percent), Tanzania (2.5 percent), India (2.4 percent), Myanmar, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (2.2 percent each) being the closest countries.
However, the report notes that Kenya has yet to realize maximum socio-economic benefits from the increased electrification. The report suggests that promoting productive uses of electricity is crucial to complement the improving electricity access.
“Kenya's recent efforts at last-mile electrification have not resulted in any real increase in consumption of electricity beyond basic services, putting into question the viability of costly grid connections,” the report states.
Kenya Power has acknowledged this challenge, stating that most of its rural customers consume only six units of electricity per month, leaving the company with idle electricity.
The report also notes that unscheduled electricity interruptions are a major challenge facing firms connected to the grid.
