State lost Sh670 million to transformer theft in last two financial years

It has now emerged that the Ministry of Energy lost Sh670 million over the last two financial years due to the theft of transformers across the country.

Principal Secretary for Energy Alex Wachira told the National Assembly Committee on Energy that the ministry lost Sh234 million and Sh336 million in the Financial Years 2022-2023 and 2021-2022 respectively due to vandalism.

Reports indicate that rogue individuals are responsible for stealing transformers, steel tower bracings, earth cables, and other essential components from various substations.

Documents further reveal that in the FY 2023-2024, Kenya Power and Lighting Company reported 66 vandalised transformers in Kiambu County alone.

In this financial year, nine transformers have been stolen with the most affected sub-counties being Limuru, Lari, Kiambu East, Kiambaa, Juja, Thika East, Ndeiya and Kabete.

Going further, PS Wachira expressed deep regret over the substantial disruption caused to operations and the severe impact on businesses and essential services due to theft.

Arrested individuals

As of January, 108 individuals had been arrested in connection with vandalism, with court cases at different stages of progress.

The PS highlighted that the ministry's infrastructure remains a prime target for vandals, resulting in significant financial losses to combat this menace.

Wachira noted, however, that vandalism cases were absent in January 2022 following the government's moratorium on scrap business nationwide.

"There was no reported vandalism of power infrastructure for the entire period of five months. This is a clear indicator of the correlation between vandalism of energy infrastructure and scrap business," he said.

Wachira however told the committee that the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit through the Energy Police Unit and other formations of the police has helped the ministry reduce vandalism.

He also revealed that the ministry is also exploring support from security agencies and other innovations such as the detection system, mobile phone tracking services, fingerprint dusting and forensics to keep vandals at bay.

Additionally, committee members emphasized the importance for the ministry to invest in trackers for transformers, arguing that taxpayers should not endure continual losses amounting to millions of shillings, nor should businesses suffer disruptions caused by saboteurs.