Kenya Power signs deal for power poles supply

Electricity distribution firm Kenya Power has signed supply contracts with 40 local firms to supply wood and concrete power poles.

The 40 firms will supply 377,000 electricity poles that the utility firm plans to intensify grid connections.

Procurement of poles is expected to increase significantly in the next four years with the implementation of the Last Mile Connectivity Project, which aims at accelerating electricity access rate in the country to 70 percent by 2017.

“We are implementing a network upgrade program across the country at a cost of Sh10 billion which involves replacement of wooden poles with concrete poles,” Kenya Power Managing Director Ben Chumo said.

Wooden poles which retail at between Sh11,000 and Sh25,000 depending on the length, require high maintenance costs compared to concrete pole. Concrete poles range between Sh21,000 and Sh52,000 per pole.

Some of the poles have been used to implement the Global Partnership on Output- Based Aid (GPOBA) program funded by the World Bank to aid cheap connections, mainly in slum areas.

A total of 1.14 million customers have been connected to power under the GPOBA program since 2014.

314,000 customers will be connected during the first phase of the last mile program that is funded by the African Development Bank.