Kenyans continue to grapple with frequent and prolonged power outages, with new data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) revealing that electricity consumers experience an average of 8.39 hours of blackouts every month.

The findings, contained in EPRA’s Biannual Energy and Petroleum Statistics Report for the first half of the 2025/26 financial year, show persistent reliability challenges in the country’s power supply system despite modest improvements.

The report shows that while outage durations have slightly declined compared to the previous year, the overall situation remains far from acceptable.

“In the period under review, customers’ outage durations reduced to an average of 8.39 hours per month, down from 9.15 hours per month recorded in a similar period in the previous year,” the report released on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 states.

This reduction signals progress, but not enough to meet regulatory expectations.

Electricity reliability is measured using the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), which tracks how long, on average, customers are without power.

Despite the improvement, Kenya’s SAIDI remains significantly above EPRA’s benchmark of 1.50 hours per month. This gap underscores the continued strain on households and businesses that depend on stable electricity for daily operations.

Beyond the duration of outages, restoration times also remain a concern. The report indicates that it takes an average of 2.38 hours to restore power after a blackout, with the longest restoration period hitting 2.60 hours in October 2025.

Although this marks a slight improvement from the previous year’s average of 2.56 hours, it still exceeds EPRA’s target of 1.36 hours, pointing to inefficiencies in response and repair systems.

The frequency of outages, though marginally improved, adds another layer to the reliability challenge. Consumers experienced an average of 3.52 interruptions per month, a slight drop from 3.57 in the previous year.

“This, however, was still higher than the 1.10 interruptions threshold per month set by the Authority,” the report noted.

Taken together, the data paint a picture of a power sector making incremental gains but still struggling to meet performance standards. The persistent frequency of outages, extended blackout durations, and slow restoration times reveal systemic inefficiencies in electricity distribution.

For Kenyan households and businesses, this translates into disrupted routines, increased operational costs, and continued uncertainty in accessing reliable power.