Late Monday night, the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company's Ketlako substation was attacked, causing a power outage across Kisii County and parts of Nyamira.
A statement from Managing Director of Engineering John Matibbo said the intrusion at the 132/33kV substation damaged the protection system.
“The attacker tried to turn off the power to the rail yard but failed. Therefore, the dam was mainly focused on control buildings and cable ducts.
Eng Mativo said one security guard was injured in the incident, but is currently receiving positive treatment at a hospital.
Six thugs attacked the Kegati substation in Nyaribari Chache minutes after midnight, said James Ochicho, one of the engineers working the night shift.
He said the thugs tied him up and forced him to switch off the mains while cutting the cables.
The thugs moved from one point to another for over an hour and a half after detaining all the security personnel stationed inside the facility.
“It is by the grace of God that we are alive. They were armed with crude weapons such as machetes.”
Kenya Power Regional Manager Eng Dan Obiero said the company has continued to incur losses of close to Sh1.2 million on an hourly basis since the outage.
Kenya Power handed over the substation to Ketraco over a year and a half ago.
Under Kenya Power, “https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001468318/nationwide-blackout-power-restored-in-parts-of-the-country”>Armed police officers<重要事態>An infrastructure protection unit was used to guard the substation below.
It is unclear why Ketraco did not seek the services of the police to protect such critical government infrastructure.
Ketraco is a designated system operator for the electricity sub-sector under section 138 of the Energy Act 2019.
Domestic demand for copper metal scrap is increasing. In February, Energy Secretary Alex Wasilla revealed that the country exports billions of dollars worth of copper, even though it is not a copper mining nation.
Some counties have already banned metal scrap businesses to curb the rise in transformer vandalism.
A week ago, Embu County banned the sale of scrap metal within the county in a bid to combat rising vandalism.
Governor Cecily Mbarire said the ban would remain in place until all dealers undergo a new vetting process and pledge not to purchase metal pieces stolen from private or public infrastructure.
