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{
    "id": 1511441,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1511441/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 517,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwala, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Vincent Musau",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Procurement of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is marred with a lot of irregularities, and is not competitive. The committee did not establish any credible process at all, applied in onboarding of the IPPs. Further, the procurement of new IPPs has not been subjected to Parliament, this being a process that affects many Kenyans. During our benchmarking in South Africa and Ghana, we observed that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for Ghana, which is the equivalent to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) is very independent. Members of its Commission are appointed by the President through a process similar to what we do here for independent institutions. That is an area we need to adjust. In South Africa, we learnt that they have an IPP office, which has greatly improved on the competitiveness of the procurement process in onboarding new IPPs. If you compare the current Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) being signed in South Africa vis-a-vis what we have, we realized that they are only paying 20 per cent of what we are currently paying. The Committee makes the following recommendations: That, the Ministry prioritises and fast tracks the completion of priority transmission lines, which are key to reducing technical losses that will improve reliability in electricity transmission. I wish to couple this with the issue of Public-Private Partnerships. The other day I saw people chasing away the Adani Group, well, for reasons that later emerged. We, however, cannot run away from PPPs. They are important to us as a country. I wish to tell Kenyans that as we speak, we are paying for expensive power while we have some cheap power somewhere. Why is this so? It is not about its generation, but getting it from where it is generated to where it is needed. Therefore, there are many cases where we are using very expensive thermal generators like the Muhoroni Gas Turbine Power Station. It is 10 times the average cost of geothermal yet we are still using it. This is because that power is under KenGen, and we cannot get it to where it is required. We need these transmission lines. Are we going to expose Kenyans to a further burden of taxing them in order to build these lines? It is not possible and neither is it going to work. The only option is to get competitive partners, procure them in an open competitive manner, and use them to build some of these lines that would otherwise strain our Exchequer. The Committee further recommends that the Ministry fast-tracks the completion of the Kenya-Off Grid Solar Access Project (K-OSAP) programme in order to promote off grid and mini grid solar systems which will provide an alternative renewable energy source for the expensive diesel off grid generators currently in use in areas not connected to the grid. The Committee further recommends that the Ministry and (EPRA) implement a competitive process of procurement of energy projects under the Auction Scheme Model, similar to the South Africa's Independent Power Procurement Programme, in order to ensure that energy is procured competitively and in line with the gazetted indicative tariffs. It also recommended that we should have the Least Cost Power Development Plan in order to ensure price discovery by selecting only least expensive power producers that …"
}