Kenya’s power supply reliability deteriorated in the year ended June 2026, with customers facing longer outages and more interruptions despite a decline in electricity lost through the distribution system.
The latest Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) report shows that the average customer experienced 3.91 power interruptions every month, compared with 3.67 recorded in the previous financial year.
The average outage lasted 3.23 hours, representing an increase of 39.6 minutes from the 2.57 hours reported in the year ended June 2025.
“During the period under review, outages averaged 3.23 hours per incident, reflecting an increase of 0.66 hours (39.6 minutes) from the 2.57 hours per outage registered in the year ending June 2025," reads the report.
May 2026 was the worst month for the average length of individual outages, with interruptions lasting 5.49 hours. September 2025 recorded the shortest average outage at 2.11 hours.
EPRA said the Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) increased to 3.23 hours during the financial year, against the regulatory target of 1.36 hours for the 2025/26 tariff control period.
CAIDI measures the average duration of an interruption among customers who experienced a sustained outage.
The regulator's figures show that CAIDI has been rising over the five-year period. It was 2.25 hours in 2022/23, 2.53 hours in 2023/24, 2.57 hours in 2024/25 and 3.23 hours in 2025/26.
The latest figure was the highest recorded over the five-year period and came after the utility had met the regulator's CAIDI target in the earlier years under review.
"This upward trajectory conflicts with regulatory goals. The national power tariff prescribed a gradual decrease in the index toward regional benchmarks by June 2026, establishing EPRA’s target at 1.36 hours per outage for the review period. While the utility complied with the regulator’s target between 2021/22 and 2023/24, it missed the requirement in each of the last two years," reads the report.
The amount of time customers spent without electricity also increased sharply during the year, according to the report.
EPRA recorded an annual System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) of 13.16 hours, compared with 9.24 hours in the year ended June 2025.
The increase of 3.74 hours pushed annual SAIDI to its highest level in the five-year period.
SAIDI measures the average total duration of interruptions affecting customers connected to a distribution network, including those who did not experience an outage during the reporting period. It therefore differs from CAIDI, which only considers customers who were affected by interruptions.
May recorded the highest monthly SAIDI at 27.33 hours, followed by June at 19.77 hours and March at 17.51 hours.
July 2025 had the lowest monthly figure at 7.18 hours. The other monthly figures were 8.42 hours in August, 8.01 in September, 9.83 in October, 7.62 in November, 9.26 in December, 9.12 in January 2026, 12.50 in February and 21.34 in April.
The annual SAIDI figure of 13.16 hours was above EPRA's 1.5-hour target. The regulator said the index remained above its threshold and the regional benchmark throughout the five-year period.
Annual SAIDI was recorded at 8.71 hours in 2021/22, 8.37 hours in 2022/23, 10.14 hours in 2023/24, 9.42 hours in 2024/25 and 13.16 hours in 2025/26.
While power reliability weakened, the report recorded an improvement in system losses.
System losses declined to 21.38 per cent in the year ended June 2026 from 23.36 per cent a year earlier. EPRA said this was the lowest level recorded during the five-year period.
“System losses stood at 21.38 per cent in the year ended June 2026, a decline of 198 basis points from the 23.36 per cent recorded in 2024/25," reads the report.
System losses cover electricity lost through both technical and commercial means during transmission and distribution.
Technical losses are associated with the performance of the electricity network, while commercial losses result from electricity supplied but not billed. EPRA listed meter tampering, unmetered electricity and illegal connections among factors linked to commercial losses.
Despite the drop, the 21.38 per cent loss rate was still 488 basis points above the 16.5 per cent level allowed by EPRA for the 2025/26 tariff control period.
The figures show that out of every 100MW of electricity generated, 78.62MW was sold to consumers, while 21.38MW was lost through technical losses and commercial inefficiencies.
The 2025/26 loss rate was about 200 basis points below the average recorded during the preceding four years, making it the best performance over the five-year period.
However, the utility continued to miss EPRA's annual system-loss targets throughout the period covered by the report.
The regulator had set the target at 19.5 per cent between 2021 and 2023, before lowering it to 18.5 per cent in 2023/24, 17.5 per cent in 2024/25 and 16.5 per cent in 2025/26.
Actual system losses stood at 22.84 per cent in 2021/22, 23.40 per cent in 2022/23, 23.21 per cent in 2023/24, 23.36 per cent in 2024/25 and 21.38 per cent in 2025/26.