@Okechukwu I'll be glad to answer. You know how they say from space the earth looks blue and green and is calm. But when you step into earth thats when you realize the pollution, wars, disease etc. The same case. If you think coz your hood has stable power, then I will tell you, welcome to the rest of the reality of Kenya. Here is how it goes based on kakamega county... Scenario 1: you have land owners who have transmission lines passing through their land and these owners have trees with leaves and branches only inches or feet away from these lines. Now seeing in kakamega it rains almost everyday of the year and these rains come with fairly strong winds. You end up having wet branches and leaves swinging and swaying close to the power lines and guess what happens when there is contact... the line trips. When you report this to KPLC they don't come to fix it until after 8PM reason being they have to test all is okay when the line has maximum load to make sure all is okay. so if the rain was at 2pm, you guessed it. no power until after 8pm. Scenario 2: There was a day about 2 months ago when the power line breaker switch broke. Now that switch happens to be in the compound. Nway without going into details it affected power to many customers along the grid including the sub-chiefs residence. People went without power for 3 weeks and can you believe no one reported it except me, yet it didnt affect me. When I reported it, at 3PM KPLC people came to fix it at 2am the next morning and didn't do anything but left it like that for the next 3 weeks. I called again... guess what their excuse was? That bees had built a hive inside the utility pole and they needed to figure out a way to get rid of the bees before they can restore power.... yeah right!!! Scenario 3:
From reliable sources I got this story where an angry employee cut off power coz he was forced to come in to work on his day off and there was a soccer game he was going to miss. So you guessed it, he decided to screw it up for others as well and go ahead and cut the power.
Scenario 4: I have watched during prolonged rain showers the transformer blow out over and over again since it sits 20 meters from the building and is in clear view from where I sit. When they come to fix it they take no measures to plug the hole where the rain water goes in... so guess what its a never ending cycle. I got a confidential answer to this. These guys capitalize on those faults so they can earn overtime on off time field trips and you say dont blame KPLC? Seriously?? I can assure you there are places in Kenya, especially the rural areas where power is unstable because people in the rural areas dont care about power. These guys are so poor they have barely enough food to go on the table let alone think about electricity. So with poor service no one gives a damn. You can call kakamega customer service and ask them how many times obbayi has called to complain and you will know the reality. our transformer can serve way over 100 homes but it serves only 15 homes of which the owners of those homes are all in Nairobi throughout the year leaving an average of 3 customers at a time being served by the transformer so overload is not an issue here yet stability is. ----- Original Message ----- | From: "Okechukwu" <okechukwu@gmail.com> | To: "Skunkworks Mailing List" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> | Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 9:44:14 AM | Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some | answers..... | | @Aki I have not said that you should be banned or stopped from | posting | about this article, I just feel you having to infor the gorup when | your power goes off is not appropriate since if everyone was to do | that, we would probably have too many mails - that was my point which | you seemingly did not get. | I may never like what you say, by I will defend your right to say it | ~ | I have no idea who said that! | | My other point was that you seem to be haing these blackouts all the | time, I seem to be having none - and we in the same country? and we | still blame Kenya Power? does that make sense to you? @Steve, please | answer this too. | | ../Ok3ch | | On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 9:24 AM, Steve Obbayi <steve@sobbayi.com> | wrote: | > @Aki dude, you've got no luck.... | > | > @Oketch.. about the blackouts I can agree with @Aki on the rural | > supply sense. I'm curently working on some long term | > project in some small town near kakamega. Blackouts here are | > guaranteed to be a daily thing. Worse off when it rains power can | > go off for even 2 days a stretch, I kid you not. through out the | > day when there is power you cannot get a straight hour of | > uninterrupted power. it will go for 3, 5, 10 seconds every 10 to | > 20 minutes. a UPS here is no luxury, the only way you can get | > decent work done here is to either get a generator or have solar | > drive your gear. When we get a full days power it is something to | > be thankful for.. So I guess as far as power goes, kenya is not | > one country. | > | > KPLC blames the rolling blackouts on trees that have been planted | > near the power lines in peoples farms. when the trees get wet | > during the rains the wet leaves on power lines cause the | > blackouts... who want to argue with that so... | > | > ----- Original Message ----- | > | From: "Okechukwu" <okechukwu@gmail.com> | > | To: "Skunkworks Mailing List" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> | > | Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 8:50:50 AM | > | Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No | > | Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some | > | answers..... | > | | > | @Aki either you complain too much or we do not live in the same | > | country. All the time you have outages I have checked my home | > | computer and it's always on and since it's UPS can barely do five | > | minutes, I know there is power. Maybe Kenya Power just doesn't | > | like | > | your neighborhood, or people near you contribute to your outages | > | by | > | building high storey's which cannot support the power | > | distribution | > | in your ares. Cut KP some slack, they have tried given their | > | resources. | > | | > | & I've had no gas for the last 2 months resorting to cooking with | > | electricity - just to show you how reliable Kenya Power is to me, | > | and I choose not to complain about the gas! | > | | > | I also have failed to understand the meaning of this thread. I | > | stopped reading it a long time ago since if it's meant to report | > | power outages, then it's the wrong forum. Maybe a thread to help | > | out | > | in minimizing outages might be more helpful. If half the people | > | in | > | this list decided to report when power goes in their | > | neighborhoods, | > | we would spend a zillion years goes through the mails. | > | | > | My 50 dollars worth of thoughts! | > | | > | ../Ok3ch | > | | > | Sent from my iPad | > | | > | On Dec 22, 2011, at 0:06, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote: | > | | > | > @Electricity back after a 13 hour outage. All electronics had | > | > gone | > | > dead : computers, phones, door bells etc. Things not looking | > | > good | > | > in the refrigerator, the stored meat has been the first item | > | > affected and could pose a serious heath hazard..... | > | > | > | > I'm really starting to miss staying in urban developed | > | > societies, | > | > it used to be so nice. You would plan your day, and have a very | > | > productive one. Only those who understand urban life can relate | > | > to | > | > this, not rural folks. Whether Summer or Winter, your daily | > | > life | > | > ran in an organised manner. The bus would show up at exactly | > | > the | > | > same time each day as expected, the underground trains would be | > | > the same. Night social life went on until 4 or 5am, you would | > | > find | > | > a cab to take you wherever you wanted, and not into into some | > | > checkpoints of "hatari". Traffic was organised mayhem, you | > | > would | > | > still reach your destination on time no matter what. Your | > | > physical | > | > mail got delivered to your doorstep, the weekends travel would | > | > always be timed distance/speed = time to destination. All | > | > household goods were so affordable, interest rates on credti | > | > cards | > | > were super low. You went out to eat great food that was so | > | > cheap, | > | > bought branded clothes that were so affordable etc etc. You | > | > went | > | > out and did grea | > | t photography, night time pictures, mall pictures until you got | > | tired. Everything worked so well until you took it as much a | > | part | > | of life as the oxygen around us. Each morning and each night | > | delivered its promise as the rising and setting sun did each | > | day. | > | > | > | > But in wheeler/dealer, supply/demand economies all the above | > | > are | > | > luxuries. For every problem purposely created, there is a | > | > business | > | > plan that benefits from lack of a normal urban lifestyle thus | > | > creating new avenues of exploitation but normally hidden as | > | > regular business. Embraced highly as the growth basis of the | > | > economies, this is core of the thriving third world. This is | > | > the | > | > rural folks way of thinking, as long as the land is tended to, | > | > the | > | > rains will come and the soil will produce what it is supposed | > | > to. | > | > Only those who are urbanised know what a green house can do, | > | > what | > | > planning is and what projections are. I never seen any urban | > | > society go hungry, they will put in the more hard work than the | > | > rural folk and still have food on their plates, pay thier bills | > | > and raise their families. | > | > | > | > Bad choices means a bad future. Who is the next rural folk to | > | > be | > | > given control of an urban society? | > | > | > | > Rgds. | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > | > _______________________________________________ | > | > Skunkworks mailing list | > | > Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke | > | > ------------ | > | > List info, subscribe/unsubscribe | > | > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks | > | > ------------ | > | > | > | > Skunkworks Rules | > | > http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 | > | > ------------ | > | > Other services @ http://my.co.ke | > | _______________________________________________ | > | Skunkworks mailing list | > | Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke | > | ------------ | > | List info, subscribe/unsubscribe | > | http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks | > | ------------ | > | | > | Skunkworks Rules | > | http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 | > | ------------ | > | Other services @ http://my.co.ke | > | | > _______________________________________________ | > Skunkworks mailing list | > Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke | > ------------ | > List info, subscribe/unsubscribe | > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks | > ------------ | > | > Skunkworks Rules | > http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 | > ------------ | > Other services @ http://my.co.ke | _______________________________________________ | Skunkworks mailing list | Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke | ------------ | List info, subscribe/unsubscribe | http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks | ------------ | | Skunkworks Rules | http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 | ------------ | Other services @ http://my.co.ke |