KPLC: Power restored countrywide after night of blackout

By Peter Ochieng 

Kenya Power has restored electricity supply countrywide, after a night of blackout.

Power was first restored at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), among other key installations like hospitals.

On Friday night, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) in statement said the airport was plunged into darkness after one of the generators failed to start, after the power outage.

"Jambo! Following a nationwide power blackout, one of the generators serving JKIA's terminal 1A and parking silo failed to start resulting in an outage in a section of the airport."

However, the anomally was rectified and the generated picked up. Hours later, Kenya Power confirmed restoration of Power at JKIA.

"We have successfully restored power supply to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and other critical areas within the Nairobi metropolitation," said Kenya Power in a statement.

"Our teams are working to restore electricity to all areas across the country that were affected by the outage. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused and we thank them all for being patient."

Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen regretted the fact that Kenya's main airport was engulfed in darkness.

"I am really sorry for what has happened at JKIA with the blackout. There is no excuse worth reporting, and there is no reason why our airport is in darkness," he said.

Nationwide power blackout affected Mt Kenya, Nairobi, Rift Valley, Western and South Nyanza regions on Friday night.

Kenya Power said the outage was caused by 'a system disturbance.'

"At 2145 hours, we experienced a system disturbance leading to loss of bulk power supply to various parts of the county. We are working in collaboration with teams from all involved sector partners to facilitate speedy restoration of power supply in the shortest time possible."

By the time of going to press, power had been restored in most parts affected by the outage.

Kenyans online called for the resignation of Energy CS Davis Chirchir over the power outage.