Speed up devolution of key energy sector functions

More than a decade after the advent of devolution, Kenya’s energy sector remains devolved in law but predominantly centralised in practice. Constitutionally, county governments are mandated to undertake planning, electricity and gas reticulation, and energy regulation.

Yet the financing, regulatory authority, technical capacity and investment decisions needed to deliver these responsibilities are controlled by National Entities. This raises a fundamental question: has Kenya really devolved the energy sector, or has it merely transferred responsibilities without the corresponding resources and power to act?

The answer, unfortunately, is that key energy sector functions have not been devolved to the county governments. Although the Energy Act of 2019 assigns counties responsibilities in electrification, energy planning and regulation, it largely preserves the sector’s centralised structure and fails to provide resources to discharge those functions.

For instance, counties are expected to undertake county electrification, but the Act does not provide for a revenue-sharing mechanism within the Rural Electrification Program Levy Fund.

Similarly, while not exceeding one-half of one per cent on sales of electricity and petroleum products is allocated to support the National Energy Regulator, no corresponding funding is provided to counties despite their constitutional regulatory mandate.

The disconnect between functions and financing has made county energy responsibilities difficult to implement. This has directly impacted local communities’ access to energy, particularly in marginalised areas where many are not connected to the grid or have unreliable off grid systems that are centrally managed.

Further, the problem is compounded by the failure to distinguish national and county electricity reticulation responsibilities. For instance, the Act assigns this function concurrently to both levels of government without defining where national distribution should end and county reticulation should begin.

In practice, national entities continue to dominate the entire distribution chain, leaving county governments with little influence over network expansion, investment priorities or local service delivery.

Reforms to open the electricity distribution to multiple players have been proposed but they have not been implemented and still inadequately recognise the county role. Even the existing energy centres, which should support counties in promoting renewable energy, public awareness and community training, remain under national control.

These institutional and financing gaps demonstrate that the central challenge is not the absence of county mandates, but the failure to operationalise and demarcate them. This necessitates establishment of a cooperative framework that gives practical effect to the constitutional assignment of functions.

The national government should retain the responsibility for policy development, electricity generation, transmission, standards and regulation, while counties should be empowered and adequately financed to undertake local reticulation, develop energy plans, enforce national regulations, promote decentralised energy systems and support energy services aligned with local and national development needs.

Ultimately, Kenya will only have a fully devolved energy sector when authority, resources and accountability move together. Without this, even the current push for County Governments to develop County Energy Plans becomes a bureaucratic exercise undertaken to satisfy statutory requirements rather than be an effective tool for shaping national investments, expanding energy access and improving the quality of energy services.

Ms Mary Mwiti is Chief Executive Officer, Council of Governors