Nairobi — Kenya Power has announced the return of the last mile electrification project (LMCP), which will connect households to the national grid under a subsidized program.
The new phase will benefit 280,473 households in 32 targeted counties at a cost of Sh26.8 billion.
The LMCP project will see 940 transformers installed, the maximization of 3,735 existing transformers, and the construction of associated power lines.
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the European Union (EU), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will fully fund the initiative that will commence in November this year.
Started in 2015, LMCP is a government flagship project whose aim is to provide affordable connections in rural and peri-urban areas, accelerating universal electricity access to drive social and economic growth in line with the country's 2030 development agenda.
It is also aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 7, which aims to provide access to clean and affordable energy for all.
So far, over 1 million Kenyan households have been connected to electricity under the first three phases of the programme funded by the government, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank.
The above has contributed to the rapid expansion of the country's network, giving electricity access to over 75 percent of the population, up from a low of 29 percent in 2012, helping Kenya rank among the world's top countries in electricity connection growth rate.
LMCP has had a positive impact on Kenyans, as revealed by a recent project impact evaluation done by the AfDB, showing there has been an 83 percent increase in the use of electricity for lighting.
Additionally, access to electricity, according to the report, has increased the probability of children studying at night by 45 percent, while examination grades for secondary school children have increased by 34 percent.
Similarly, the use of electricity for agricultural activities such as irrigation went up by 17 percent.
It has increased sales to Sh1.1 billion over the past four years for the utility firm, from 53.08 GHrs of electricity sold to customers connected under the programme.
