Kenya Hit By Electricity Outage, Nairobi Without Power

Most of Kenya suffered a blackout on Saturday due to a fault on a major transmission line serving the capital Nairobi , electricity distributor Kenya Power said .
By 1000 GMT supply had been restored to all major regions including the capital Nairobi , West Kenya , North Rift, South Nyanza and the Coast area , the company’ s spokesman told Reuters . “ We experienced a technical challenge that led to tripping of our main supply line … consequently leading to a power outage in most parts of the country ,” Kenya Power said in a statement early on Saturday. Kevin Sang , Kenya Power ’s chief communication ’s officer, told Reuters supply was knocked out at 5 :34 a .m. local time ( 0234 GMT ) on Saturday when a fault occurred on a transmission line that runs from Olkaria in Kenya ’ s Great Rift Valley region to Nairobi .
Blackouts are common in Kenya , partly because of an ageing energy network and insufficient generation capacity. Many businesses in Nairobi and other big towns operate back - up generators.