30 August 2013, Nairobi — Kenya Power has raised concerns over increased outages caused by cuts on underground electricity cables by contractors working on ongoing fibre optic projects in various parts of Nairobi.
Kenya Power Manager for Common Services Charles Mwaura says more than 30 incidents of power outages reported in various parts of the city in the last three months were attributed to cable cuts by contractors laying fibre optic cables.
He said resultant power outages negatively affect the quality of power supply to customers and denies the company revenue owing to lost business opportunity.
Mwaura appealed to contractors to get accurate city layout plans for services from the Nairobi County physical planner and to seek clarifications from Kenya Power to help minimize such incidences.
He also said theft of cables is costing the firm dearly.
He gave an example of a critical high voltage of 66 Kilovolts, KV, underground cable carrying power from Parklands substation to Cathedral substation serving Nairobi’s Central Business District which has been vandalised five times in one month alone forcing the company to supply power from alternative substations.
“We have incurred Sh10 million in replacement costs after 300 metres of the underground cable was recently stolen by vandals after exposure by fibre optic contractors,” he said.
– Capital FM
