Payments mainly attributed to poor weather that affected hydro power generation as well as increases in international oil prices.
Glasgow-based emergency power firm Aggreko did not get any payment in the year, according to the annual accounts.
However, Iberafrica Power, majority-owned by Union Fenosa of Spain, earned Sh3.1 billion in electricity sales to Kenya Power.
Kenya Power’s payments to diesel-fired electricity plant operatorsincreased by Sh1.1 billion to Sh14.8 billion in the year to June compared to the previous period, the company’s annual accounts have showed.
Theincrease was mainly attributed to poor weather that affected hydro power generation as well as increases in international oil prices.
The State-controlled electricity distributor paid the Sh14.8 billion to six independent power producers (IPPs) including Tsavo Power, Iberafrica Power, Rabai Power, Thika Power, Triumph and Gulf Power.
Glasgow-based emergency power firm Aggreko did not get any payment from electricity supplies to Kenya Power in the year, according to the annual accounts.
Aggreko, which was for years one of the biggest recipients of payments from thermal energy generation, has stopped supplying electricity to Kenya Power as part of the government’s plans to reduce consumer tariffs.
However Iberafrica Power, majority-owned by Union Fenosa of Spain, earned Sh3.1 billion in electricity sales to Kenya Power. This was 5.69 per cent less from the Sh3.3 billion the firm earned a year earlier. The firm has a 108.5 MW diesel plant located in Nairobi South, making it Kenya’s biggest thermal-based IPP.
Rabai Power made Sh2.9 billion in electricity sales from Kenya Power, a growth of 28.7 per cent compared to the Sh2.3 billion earned in 2017. The firm has a 90 MW thermal plant located in Rabai, Kilifi County.
Joint venture
Rabai Power is a joint venture between London-based energy firm Aldwych International Ltd and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor of Denmark.
Thika Power netted Sh2.35 billion in the period reflecting a 45.06 per cent rise from the previous year.
Thika Power has an 87 MW diesel-fired plant and is a subsidiary of Melec PowerGen Inc, affiliated to the Matelec Group of Companies from Lebanon.
Tsavo Power’s earnings from Kenya Power jumped 15 per cent to Sh2.3 billion last year from Sh2 billion the previous period.
The IPP operates a 74 MW medium-speed diesel plant in Mombasa and is owned by Globeleq Africa, the CDC Group and Norwegian development financier Norfund.
The heavy spending in thermal power puts to test President Uhuru Kenyatta’s promise to turn to cheaper and cleaner sources such as geothermal, wind and co-generation to lower the cost of electricity.
Planned shift
The planned shift is meant to help cut overreliance on hydro and thermal power.
In April this year Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter said Kenya will not renew the licences of IPPs as they are phased out for being “expensive”.
Mr Keter said the phase-out is meant to make electricity affordable and ease the burden on Kenyans, who pay a fuel cost adjustment component on monthly power bills.
“We have 27 thermal power plants in the country, and once their licences expire, we will not renew them as we have enough power,” Mr Keter said. However, some IPPs have signed 20-year contracts with Kenya Power, meaning the last diesel plant should go silent in 2032.
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