Electrification of Informal Settlements in Nairobi (Kibera Informal Settlement From 2015)
- Gloria Tanui
- Jan 27
- 4 min read
Background
The informal settlements in Nairobi form a huge chunk of the population in the city, where a majority of people migrating from the rural areas into the city find a starting point for the hectic life in the city. The major informal areas include Kibera, Mathare, Mukuru and Kawangware. Due to the extreme factors in these areas, supply of metered electricity supply has been a major challenge in these areas.
Electrification of informal settlements in Kenya started in 2011 in Nairobi supported by the World Bank through (the Global Partnership of Output-Based Aid- (GPOBA)) this initiative was tailored to subsidize the cost of electricity connection to residents in informal settlements and other low-income regions in Kenya. In this model, the Donor contributed US$ 225 (Shs.19,350), while Kenya Power contributed Shs. 11,970 per connection making up the standard capital contribution of Shs. 32,480 per connection. Therefore, with this, the customer will only pay a connection fee of Shs. 1,160. Through a pole-mounted prepaid meter.
The program started in 2011 without much success, due to resistance and hindrance from the locals and the illegal power cartels that strongly existed and managed the whole network. With the learnings from this initial pilot project in Kibera Laini Saba Village, we were able to come up with strategies that enabled us to penetrate the entire Kibera, Mukuru and Mathare slums with clean, legal and safe power.
Strategic approaches that lead to success
Community engagement – Communitywide campaigns using existing communication channels in the slums through the local leadership and the local county management.
Change of policy - Introduced new policies that created an avenue to directly involve the locals in construction work to provide employment to the local youth and their leaders.
Service planning, design, mapping and identifying potential customers in the entire area to scope.
Data collection through community involvement, door to door approach/ pole to pole.
Community education with a focus on improved customer service to adapt to the new installation and pre-paid metering.
Engaging with critical stakeholders including local Opinion shapers, Chiefs, security forces, local Champions and other collaborators.
Support by the top management- There was full support from top management to ensure the project's success.
Improved Road infrastructure in the slums by the government- The access roads in the slums enabled ease of movement and also improved security.
Ease of documentation needed to open accounts for all slum customers.
Major Milestones
100% penetration of clean power supply to the slums.
Connecting over 92000 customers in the informal settlements.
Set up functional operations teams to support the network.
Training of locals to equip them with skills to operate on power networks.
Set up of temporary offices i.e. Undugu grounds in Silanga Kibera to bring the service closer to the customer.
Disconnection of major illegal power connections from neighbouring estates.
Sales growth realized from the new market segment.
Youth Employment.
Benefits to the community
The affordable connections were paid in instalments.
Safe electricity installations that reduced the risk of fires and deaths.
Improved quality of life for residents in the informal settlements.
Improved security due to lighting.
Created employment opportunities for the residents.
Enhanced economic activities emerging due to power availability.
Challenges
Some of the main challenges included:
Poor implementation of project sustainability programs – The gains made in the project get watered down due to the lack of follow-through programs to sustain the projects.
Management turnover – A change of top management often implies a change of policy and interest hence support of the project is hindered.
Lack of harmony among different development stakeholders leading project overlaps of rerouting of already commissioned projects resulting in massive wastage of resources. i.e construction of the new bypass through Kibera slums from Langata road to Ngong road where KPLC had already constructed power lines in Kambi Muru, Kisumu Ndogo, Kichinjio and Makina led to the removal of newly constructed power lines, one year old.
Interference and threats from the power cartels.
Political interference.
Resistance by structure owners in fear of losing property in the process of electrification landlord.
Difficulties in upgrading the networks due to social constraints.
Frequent fires due to illegal electricity connections.
Hostility towards power workers and contractors
A high rate of vandalism.
Recommendations
Created employment opportunities for the residents.
An integrated approach at the government agency level to merge all the development plans with a common end goal.
Special focus to be put on sustainability strategy to safeguard the investment.
Loss quantification and determination by metering feeders serving the slums. This will make it measurable and quantifiable.
Re-engineer the designs for networks serving informal sectors to suit the extreme factors.
Review revenue collection models to make it favourable for this market segment to grow sales.
Consider long term solutions at the government policy level to formulate special tariffs for the informal settlements.
Enforcement of the law governing power connection and supply must be tightened.
