More Africans have electricity, but they are using less of it

TOURISTS have long been drawn to Hell’s Gate National Park in Kenya by its steep cliffs, plentiful zebras and spectacular canyons. Recently there is a new attraction; a spa set amid the cliffs, with a huge pool heated by the energy stored in the Earth’s crust. Curiously, it is not run by a tourist company, but by KenGen, the national electricity generator. It abuts the Olkaria geothermal power plants, from which plumes of steam pour into the sky. Since 1982 four power stations have opened here; a fifth is being built and work on a sixth will begin soon. Energy harvested from volcanic heat now provides almost half the power Kenya needs.

Electrification has been one of the country’s great successes over the past few decades. It is not just new generators; the number of people connected to the power network has also soared. According to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), nearly three-quarters of Kenyans are now connected, up from barely a quarter in 2013. The trend in many African countries has been in the same direction. According to the World Bank, the proportion of Africans with access to electricity increased from 19% in 1991 to 37% in 2014.