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Kenya Power’s (KP) Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP) has received a Sh1.85 billion grant from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) to connect 9,000 customers in four counties.

The funding aims to enhance the project’s efforts to provide electricity to underserved areas, improving access and reliability for many households and businesses across Kenya.

In a statement, Kenya Power General Manager for Commercial Services and Sales, Rosemary Oduor (pictured), said the households under the phase V of the project will be located in Nakuru, Kilifi, Kwale and Nyandarua counties

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“We expect to connect all the targeted households across the four counties by January 2025. The Company is committed to fast-tracking electricity connection across the country to achieve universal access to electricity. We thank JICA for the grant which will go a long way to enable these households to access electricity and transform their livelihoods,” she said.

The grant comes two months after KP signed 26 contracts for the implementation of Phase IV of the LMCP, a Sh27 billion project funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Union (EU), and the European Investment Bank (EIB), aiming to connect 280,000 new customers by November 2025.

Since its inception in 2015, the LMCP has significantly contributed to the growth of the electricity access rate in the country, which currently stands at 76 per cent with 9.6 million households connected to the grid.

To date, the Kenya National Electrification Strategy anchored project has received funding amounting to Sh73.1 billion. Kenya Power serves as the implementing agency on behalf of the government.

A total of 746,867 households have been connected to the grid under the first three phases at a cost of Sh51.1 billion.

This success is primarily hinged on maximising the efficiency of existing distribution transformers by connecting every household within 600 meters of the transformer as well as the installation of new transformers to serve households outside this radius.