TZ cuts power imports from Kenya by 67pc

Nairobi. Tanzania has for the first time in two years cut its purchase of electricity from Kenya as its imports of other goods from Nairobi continue to drop.

Official data shows that power exports to Tanzania dropped 67.3 per cent to 170,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) in the first three months to March.

Kenya and Tanzania have a pact for power exchange at their border towns which are not connected to the national grid.

“Kenya and Tanzania have cross border electrification arrangement in which Tanzania sells power to Kenya’s parts not connected to the national grid via Lunga Lunga as Kenya sells to Tanzania via Namanga,” said Joseph Oketch, director of electricity at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“It is a small power trade and therefore it fluctuates because there is no transmission line connecting the two countries.”

But the data shows Nairobi stopped buying power from Dar es Salaam last year. Tanzania, which is constructing a 240-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, did not buy any electricity from Kenya in February and March.

Dar es Salaam has in recent years been cutting back on its imports from Kenya, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows.

Under President John Magufuli, Tanzania purchased Ksh5.2 billion (about Tsh114.4 billion) worth of goods from Nairobi in the year to March, down from Ksh5.7 billion (about Tsh125.5 billion) in a similar period of 2015 and Ksh10.1 billion (about Tsh222.2 billion) in 2012.