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Today there is no full countrywide blackout in Kenya. What is happening instead are planned, partial outages in parts of 4 counties to allow Kenya Power to carry out maintenance work.
This week KPLC has been doing rolling maintenance across different regions. On Thursday, July 29, 4 counties are affected. On Wednesday it was 6 counties, and on Tuesday it was 10 counties. The idea is that different areas lose power on different days, rather than the entire country going dark at once.
There are three main reasons why only parts of the country are affected at a time. First is scheduled maintenance, where KPLC shuts specific sections to work on transformers, power lines, or substations. Second is localized faults, such as a fallen tree, a vandalized tower, or a problem at a substation, which can knock out power for one estate or neighborhood. Third is load shedding, where KPLC rotates outages when demand is high to prevent the whole grid from collapsing.
The impact is being felt most in places like Nairobi Eastlands, where residents report outages lasting from a few hours to several days. Businesses such as restaurants, butcheries, and fish traders lose stock when fridges go off. Households are relying on candles, solar lights, or going to pubs to charge their phones.
If you want to know whether your area is affected, you can send your meter number to 97771, check KPLC’s X account @KenyaPower_Care.
