Industries share of power use fall below 50pc for first time

The surge in units of power sold to homes in the year cut the share of consumption by commercial and industrial customers to 49.2 percent or 5.62 billion kWh in the year to June compared to 51.6 percent the previous year.

A number of big consumers are opting for alternative sources of electricity like solar and biomass in the quest for more reliable and cheaper supply of power. This has in turn slowed down the growth in their consumption.

Consumption of electricity by industrial and commercial customers grew by 3.4 percent in the year ended June 2025, compared to 5.7 percent the previous and a further 5.8 percent in the year to June 2023.

Read: Industries cut consumption of cheap electricity at night, weekends

Usage of electricity by households grew at a faster rate of 13.3 percent compared to industries in the period under review, highlighting the impact of increased connections for homes.

Data shows that consumption by homes grew by 429 million kWh in the year ended June 2025 which was nearly three times more than the increase of 189 kWh by commercial and industrial users in the same period.

A growing number of commercial and industrial consumers (using more than 15,000 kilowatt-hours a month) have in recent times been forced to set up their own solar and biomass power plants in a bid to cut their monthly power bills besides ensuring a more reliable source of power.

The shift by the heavy consumers has rattled Kenya Power given that this category is the single biggest user of the national grid.

Increased new connections of homes to the grid and their deepening use of the electricity has offered hope to Kenya Power, in its bid to maintain a steady growth in electricity sales.

Kenya Power added 401,848 new customers in the year ended June 2025, bringing its total customer base to above the 10-milion mark. Majority of these are domestic customers and small businesses under the Last Mile Connectivity project.

Industrial and commercial users have traditionally been the single biggest revenue drivers of Kenya Power, accounting for at least half of the billions that Kenya Power makes from selling electricity every financial year. Domestic users are the second biggest accounting for 30 percent of the revenues.

It remains to be seen whether the share of revenues from industrial and commercial customers will also dip below the 50 percent mark to mirror the decline in electricity consumption.

Kenya Power has four consumer categories; domestic, small commercial, street lighting, commercial and industrial and the export market of Uganda and Tanzania.

Revenues that Kenya Power made from each category in the year ended June 2025 will be disclosed when the firm releases its annual report next month.

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