Kenya Power is seeking local firms to provide 2,555 distribution transformers under a one-year contract as the utility aims to ensure a steady supply of critical equipment to facilitate the connection of new customers.
The State-owned electricity distribution monopoly has invited firms to bid for the kits, whose capacity will range between 25 kilovolts ampere (KVA) and 100 KVA.
Kenya Power is racing to ensure enough stocks of critical equipment such as transformers and meters to ensure that it maintains the steady rise in new connections.
Stocking up is also aimed at replacing faulty kits and others that have been vandalised, leaving customers in darkness.
“The Kenya Power & Lighting Company Plc (KPLC) invites bids from eligible tenderers for the supply of pole-mounted distribution transformers (local manufacturers),” Kenya Power says.
Kenya Power did not disclose the value of the deal, which is the second one targeting local manufacturers in under two months.
The firm had in April invited companies to supply transformers in a deal worth Sh3.9 billion. Local manufacturers have up to July 4 this year to submit their bids.
Distribution transformers are used to step down electricity from high voltage to lower voltage, enabling it to be safely connected to customers in their homes, businesses, and commercial buildings. They can be pad-mounted (housed in metallic enclosure) or pole-mounted.
Kenya Power recorded 194,654 new connections between July and December 2024, leading to a market base of 9.85 million. The additions were, however, lower than 260,257 posted in the same period of 2023.
Electricity sales grew five percent to 5,506 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) between July and December last year from 5,225 GWh in the same period of 2023.
The call for local manufacturers to supply transformers comes barely two months after Kenya Power floated a Sh3.9 billion tender seeking 3,319 transformers where winning firms were to supply the kits within 14 days after awarding of the tender.
Kenya Power has attributed the slow growth in new customers to the shortage of kits such as transformers and meters.
Lawsuits from local manufacturers protesting a number of conditions in procurement tenders have significantly hampered Kenya Power’s efforts to procure the kits and ensure speedy connections to new customers and also quick replacement of faulty ones.
For example, Kenya Power was last month cleared to proceed with the Sh3.9 billion deal to acquire transformers.
This is after the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board dismissed a case by a local firm that has sought to have the delivery period extended beyond 14 days.
