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{
    "id": 1103919,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1103919/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 385,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "In regards to the electricity aspect, early this year or late last year, Sen. Wetangula asked a question to the CS for Energy on the issue of prices of electricity from the point of the so called cheap energy, the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) firm. It was clear that the cost of energy, which we are experiencing now, is because of mismanaging of Kenya Power, which is still a monopoly. It has been making profit and declining until 2019. It had a loss of Kshs7 billion last year. This clearly shows that the institution is mismanaged. There are serious corruption scandals and interference of the running of the corporation by the boards. The other issue is how they are balancing the different sources of power. We are told that they are supposed to move from thermal energy using the expensive generator to renewable energy. Geothermal has been improving and it is cheap. There is hydropower that is because the climate change may not be reliable. However, there is also an introduction of wind and power. There is no movement towards this cheaper energy. Even where it says it should be cheap, if you look at the kind of power purchase agreements that are signed with these people, they are skewed. In the case of LTWP, which Sen. Wetangula was following, we paid Kshs15 billion without that company supplying a unit of electricity. I would have asked the CS about it if he had come. This is because I have the written reply. Sen. Wetangula asked: “Will you pay more than the Kshs6 billion that you have said so far?” He said ‘no.’ However, the country went ahead and paid an extra Kshs9 billion without being supplied a single unit of power. Continuously, the power purchase agreement says ‘take or pay’. If the generating capacity of the LTWP is 310 megawatts and they are doing 60 per cent, which is 200 megawatts, even if you do not uptake the 200 megawatts, you have to pay. It is constant. We are paying between Kshs12 billion to Kshs15 billion to LTWP each year, whether we are getting that power or not. When Kenya approached World Bank to finance that project, it refused. They said we do not have the capacity to absorb the 300 at once, we should do it in phases of 100. The Government of Kenya refused and went to the Africa Development Bank and some European banks. We are now paying for power that we are consuming. This is because most of the power is generated at night when the wind is fast and we are not a 24-hour economy. Therefore, we are wasting it that way. However, we are paying for each and every unit of power, which they are supposed to have produced; not forgetting the power line that costed over Kshs30 billion, while it would have costed half of that. This is because of mismanagement of not doing due diligence, contractors go bankrupt then we run into problems. The power purchase agreement with the thermal energy generators, whether they produce or not, we are still paying until those agreements end. Therefore, we are paying for power, which is not being supplied. That is why the cost of power is not reducing. These are the things that the CS should have addressed and we would have seen how to get Kenyans out of this situation. However, when the CS does not come nor send anybody, we are unable to question him. That is why we need to censure him. If there is a stronger way to express ourselves, we need to look at that. If censure will not be enough to make them wake up and do their work, we need to look at other means that we have in law, so that these public officers work and become accountable."
}