Four years to go, can Kenya still achieve its universal electricity ambitions?
President William Ruto cautions against ‘over reliance’ on foreign funding.
Last mile electrification program running to schedule – Kenya Power MD.

Kenya set out to achieve universal electricity access by 2030, with only four years remaining, stakeholders question whether the goal is achievable.

“The government is on course to mobilise necessary capital both private and public towards connecting the identified customer clusters both on-grid and off-grid,” the Kenya Power Managing Director and CEO Dr. Eng Joseph Siror reassures stakeholders and the nation at large.

At the 2026 Energy Access Investment Forum (EAIF) Kenya plans to invest $65 million to connect more than 53,000 households in the northern part of the country that remains unconnected to electricity, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced.

Backing the president’s commitment, Energy and Petroleum Minister Opiyo Wandayi told stakeholders that through a mix of grid infrastructure and off-grid electrification programs, more than 76% of the country has access to electricity.

In his speech, delivered by a senior official from the Energy Ministry, the minister said; “Over the past decade, Kenya has connected more than 6 million households under its Last Mile Connectivity Programme, bringing the total number of connected households to over 10 million.”

Speaking to press at the start of the week, Eng. Siror said the country has a comprehensive national strategy and according to him, if implemented effectively, it will lead to universal electricity access across the country.

Fresh blueprint to enhance universal electricity access

Dubbed, the Kenya National Electrification Strategy 2025-2030, the roadmap identifies the demand areas, i.e. the unconnected households and it also lays out the most practical and cost-effective way to deliver power to the end user.

Kenya Power is a monopoly controlling electricity production and distribution. According to the CEO, a little over a decade ago, in 2014, Kenya’s electricity access was 30%, in that time, the monopoly doubled electricity access to today’s 76%.

“Our current customer base exceeds 10 million…we are one of the leading countries across Sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to electricity access,” the CEO said insisting that in the next four years, the country will have achieved universal access.

Seconding the CEO, the Kenya Power Permanent Secretary Alex Wachira, said the country is now conducting a campaign dubbed Last Mile Electrification Programme, that, as the name suggests, will see the country deliver power to the remaining customer base.

PS Wachira said, the Last Mile Connectivity Programme (LMCP) is specifically designed to accelerate the last phase of electricity access.

“We are now finalizing connection of households located near existing electricity infrastructure…this is the last mile towards achieving universal access,” he reassured stakeholders.

He went on to describe the LMCP as “…one of Kenya’s most impactful electrification initiatives… designed to remove financial barriers that otherwise prevent many households from getting connected even when electricity infrastructure is already close to them.”

“Through the LMCP, Kenya has significantly accelerated household electrification, particularly in rural and peri-urban communities,” he detailed.

Short of specifying the time frame, the high ranking Kenya Power official, said the LMCP has connected over two million customers across each of the country’s 47 counties.

“Connectivity has brought about improvement in education, healthcare, street lighting, communication, and small business activity…it has improved general welfare across the country,” he said.

Thanks to the LMCP, he added, Kenya has in effect made electrification more inclusive; “we have given power access to even the lower-income rural households that would otherwise not afford the connection costs,” he said.

According to the PS, under the last mile program, beneficiaries pay a highly subsidised connection fee without the usual upfront payment required prior to connection.

The program affords beneficiaries an interest-free StimaLoan repayment plan. The StimaLoan initiative is a credit facility that allows low income end users to be connected to the grid and pay through regular deductions of their prepaid electricity tokens whenever they top up.

“This move has allowed us to increase utilisation of existing power network infrastructure that was laying idle, making prior investments more productive,” he detailed.

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The last mile, how Kenya is closing remnants of its power access gap

Kenya’s universal access strategy is based on a mix of solutions rather than relying solely on traditional grid expansion, explains the

According to the strategy, Kenya plans to connect the remaining 14% of its households by 2030 by employing a combination of grid extension and off-grid technologies.

“There will be continued grid densification, where households in densely populated areas located close to existing electricity infrastructure are connected at relatively lower cost,”

Detailing, he said the grid intensification plan will involve strengthening and extending existing distribution networks by adding transformers, feeder lines, and medium and low-voltage extensions.

The plan will also cover suburban growth centres, less densely populated and currently underserved settlements.

Further still, this last mile power supply will connect economically strategic areas that are away from the existing network.

“This will entail setting up High Tension extensions in, which will involve extending high-voltage primary lines that include installation of transformers and LV line extensions,” reads the strategy.

According to the strategy, to reach even more isolated remote areas where extending the national grid is neither commercially nor technically practical, Kenya will adopt Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) mini-grids.

The DRE mini-grids, systems that generate power from renewable sources like solar or wind, will also supply population clusters located in sparsely populated regions.

Since DRE mini-grids are reliable, clean, and cost-effective, Kenya is now converting its diesel-powered mini-grids to solar-hybrid systems.

“For completely isolated households and institutions, the strategy is to apply standalone solar solutions will be used,” Dr. Eng. Siror detailed.

Pleased with progress thus far, Eng. Siror said; “In just over a decade, we have made significant progress, however, the final stretch towards universal access will require even greater effort because the households that remain unconnected are the most difficult and expensive to reach.”

According to the high ranking official and as stipulated in the strategy, universal electricity access is about much more than lighting homes.

Power supply is about enabling education, improving healthcare, supporting enterprise, creating jobs, enhancing security, supporting agriculture, spurring growth in mobile telecommunication and internet access, and unlocking economic opportunity for Kenya, the strategy details.

“Given our strong momentum, and our government commitment, the 2030 target remains within reach,” he summed up.