Kenya Power’s record sales expose growing reliance on Ethiopian electricity

Kenya's electricity consumption reached record levels in the year ending June 2026, with Kenya Power distributing 12,792.42 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power, a 12.2% increase from the previous year. This surge in demand has led to a growing reliance on Ethiopian electricity imports, which rose to 1,584.45 GWh, accounting for approximately 10% of Kenya Power's total supply.

The trend of increasing imports is becoming strategically important as Kenya's electricity demand continues to reach new peaks. In July 2026, peak demand hit 2,549 megawatts, surpassing the previous record of 2,439.06 MW set in December 2025. This increase is attributed to both a growing customer base and higher consumption by existing users.

Kenya Power added 411,710 new customers in the year ending June 2026, resulting in an additional 161.7 GWh of electricity sales. However, this growth in demand also highlights a supply challenge: connecting more customers requires a simultaneous expansion of generation and grid infrastructure. Kenya Power's CEO, Joseph Siror, emphasized the need to focus on generation to secure reserve margins and prevent power outages or sudden demand fluctuations.

The financial cost of this dependence on Ethiopian electricity has also risen, with Kenya's payments nearly tripling to Ksh8.68 billion in the year ending July 2025. While Ethiopia's imports are not necessarily replacing Kenyan generation, they can provide relatively low-cost power to meet peak demand and preserve domestic generation resources.

Nonetheless, the growing reliance on cross-border power suggests that Kenya's electricity demand will likely continue to drive an increased share of its energy mix, posing a challenge for the country to keep pace with both domestic generation and imports.