Kenya Power eyes home internet space in new digitalisation plan

Kenya Power plans to install chips in its smart metres for wireless internet access in homes and business premises as the electricity supplier ventures into the crowded internet service space.

The utility firm is banking on its vast customer base made up of 9.6 million households and business premises.

The smart metres are part of Kenya Power’s smart grid plan as the company seeks to diversify its revenue base, leveraging its initial infrastructure while also adopting technology to digitalise electricity supply.

While the company is yet to get a license for the new line of business, Kenya Power Chairperson Joy Masinde said the pilot project in government offices offers great potential.

“We are still waiting on our licence to do end-to-end customer usage, but eventually it should come. Once we give you a smart metre, hopefully, we should be able to embed in it a chip so that you can get Wi-Fi with your electricity,” she says.

She, however, notes that the firm will mainly target far-flung areas since most developed regions, especially urban centres are already being served by other major internet providers.

“We are not really competing with the telcos, but of course, most of the places we have our biggest customers are places where the telcos cannot afford to go,” she said. Ms Masinde was speaking on the sidelines of the Gitex Global Summit in Dubai.

“You might find that they are not willing to change and try Kenya Power, but we hope in places where they do not have high-speed internet connectivity, we might be the solution that they need,” she added.

Kenya Power has a licence from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to provide end-to-end internet solutions to government institutions, including schools.

The fact that Kenya Power is the biggest supplier of dark fibre and has footprints across the country, Ms Masinde said, would help the company break even in the new line of business.

“I know the majority of our domestic customers feel like they pay a lot for their power. But because (power) is expensive to produce and maintain, we do not break even from supplying to our domestic customers. If we get one additional income stream, it takes away the pressure of having to rely on power billing,” she said.

“Kenya Power has the privilege of being everywhere in Kenya. Riding on our power points, it means anywhere you find electricity you should be able to find Wi-Fi.”

Ms Masinde said the Gitex Global technology expo gives the power supply an ideal platform to seek ways of leveraging the strengths of technology toward smart electricity supply.

“Huawei is one of the partners we have been working with as one of our vendors. As you know, Kenya Power for a long time has had very serious challenges in terms of customer satisfaction because of outages, response time and how long it takes to get services,” she said.

Ms Masinde said due to the firm’s bad reputation, there is a need to  utilise technology to confront some of these challenges. “We have to digitalise,” she said. “And in doing this, we have been exploring options on how to get the best technology at the best value that can be deployed at the scale that we need it,” she said.

“We have over 9.6 million customers, so if we are talking of even something as simple as the smart metre, it is a monumental task. Having the infrastructure to be able to sustain that level of digitalisation is also a big challenge.” 

Some of the power sector solutions on show at the expo include embedding new services in electricity transmission to reduce line losses and real-time monitoring and maintenance of power lines.

David Sun, chief executive, Huawei Electric Power Digitalisation Business Unit, noted that the biggest chance for a smart electricity system lies in power distribution, which informs the company’s Intelligent Distribution Solutions (IDS).

“Line losses is the biggest challenge in Africa,” he pointed out, adding that when it comes to IDS, different markets may have varying needs. Kenya’s needs, as noted by Ms Masinde, start with grid maintenance at the substation level as she detailed how commercial losses are one of the issues draining the company’s bottom line.

She said it is important to have information on how much power a substation has received, how much it has deployed, how much of that has been billed, what is still outstanding, where is it outstanding, who owes them and how to collect.