Kenya Power has announced a scheduled power interruption for Monday, November 10, 2025, that will affect Mirema estate and surrounding areas in Nairobi County for eight hours. The utility company stated the outage, running from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EAT, is necessary to facilitate routine network maintenance and system upgrades aimed at improving the reliability of the power supply.

In a notice issued on Sunday, November 9, 2025, via its social media platforms, Kenya Power detailed the specific locations to be impacted. These include Lumumba Drive, Mirema Road, Mirema Drive, Paris Lounge, PAC University, and Mirema Primary School, along with other adjacent customers. The announcement is part of a series of nationwide maintenance schedules, with similar interruptions affecting parts of Uasin Gishu, Kisumu, Kiambu, and Kitui counties over the weekend.

A System Under Strain

While Kenya Power frames these interruptions as essential for service improvement, the frequent outages—both planned and unplanned—point to deeper systemic issues within Kenya's energy sector. The country is grappling with an aging power infrastructure that struggles to cope with rising electricity demand. This has led to a situation where demand often outstrips supply, particularly during peak evening hours.

In a significant acknowledgment of the crisis, President William Ruto confirmed in early November 2025 that Kenya is implementing deliberate daily power rationing, or load shedding. Speaking in Doha, Qatar, the President stated that between 5:00 PM and 10:00 PM EAT daily, Kenya Power is forced to cut supply to some areas to prevent a collapse of the national grid. This admission followed weeks of growing public frustration over patterned blackouts that had not been officially explained by the utility.

Kenya's peak electricity demand hit a record 2,412 megawatts in October 2025, surpassing the available generation capacity of approximately 2,316 megawatts. This shortfall leaves the country with no reserve margin, creating a fragile power system. The inability of the aging grid to handle sudden surges in electricity flow has been blamed for several past nationwide blackouts.

Economic and Social Impact

The consequences of an unreliable power supply are significant for Kenya's economy. Frequent outages disrupt commerce and industry, which together account for over half of the country's electricity consumption. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as salons, cyber cafes, and welding workshops are disproportionately affected, often forced to close or incur high costs from running diesel generators. For larger manufacturers, unplanned outages can lead to damaged equipment and lost production, with some estimates suggesting such interruptions cost the sector billions of shillings annually.

Hospitals and other critical facilities are also forced to rely on backup generators, incurring extra operational expenses. The interruptions disrupt daily life for millions of residents, affecting everything from home appliances to security systems. Frustration over the unreliable supply has led many businesses and wealthier households to invest in alternative power sources like solar, reducing their reliance on the national grid and impacting Kenya Power's revenue streams.

Pathways to Stability

Addressing Kenya's energy deficit is critical for its economic ambitions. President Ruto has stated that the country needs a minimum of 10,000 megawatts to industrialize effectively, a significant increase from the current capacity. The government's strategy includes expanding generation capacity, with a focus on renewable sources like geothermal energy.

However, experts note that simply increasing generation is not enough. Substantial investment is required to upgrade and modernize the aging transmission and distribution network to reduce system losses and improve stability. A freeze on new Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) since 2018 has limited the addition of new generation capacity, forcing Kenya to become more dependent on electricity imports from neighbours like Ethiopia.

As residents and businesses in Mirema prepare for Monday's outage, the interruption serves as a microcosm of a national challenge. While Kenya Power continues its maintenance schedules to keep the current system functional, the long-term solution rests on significant, sustained investment to build a resilient and adequate power infrastructure for Kenya's future. The utility has advised customers to treat all power lines as live during the maintenance period for safety.