A slow recovery in the demand for electricity by industrial consumers hurt Kenya Power’s half-year revenue. Revenue from the sale of electricity fell to Kes69.014 billion in the six months period that ended on December 31, 2020, compared to Kes69.607 billion at the end of December 2019.
Transmission and distribution costs dropped 19% to Kes18.7 billion from Kes23 billion in the corresponding half -year period in 2019.
The depreciation of the Kenya shilling against major currencies pushed up Kenya power’s power purchase costs, with non-fuel power purchase expenses jumping up 2.5% to Kes38.12 billion in December 2020 from Kes37.19 billion in December 2019.
Additionally, the cost of finance shot up by 110% to Kes8.057 billion from Kes3.835 billion the previous year due to the weakening of the shilling against major currencies.
Kenya Power’s non-fuel power purchases increased by over Kes.1 billion in the period to Kes.38.1 billion from foreign exchange losses on foreign currency denominated power buys.
The company’s assets dipped to Kes320.1 billion at the end of the six months, compared to Kes325.8 billion the previous year, a 1.7% drop. Its liabilities also decreased by 1.5% to Kes264.9 billion from Kes268.9 billion in December 2019.
Kenya power net profit for the six months period that ended on December 31, 2020, decreased to Kes138 million from Kes692 million a year earlier. As a result, earnings per share dipped to Kes0.07 from Kes0.35 in December 2019.
The company which has been in operation for nearly a century said its main focus is on “customer-centric service, growing sales, enhancing revenue collection, managing costs, and enhancing system efficiencies.”
As a way of improving operational efficiencies, Kenya Power equipped its county offices to operate as fully fledged business units.
Miriam Wangui of the Kenyan Wallstreet contributed to this article
