Kenya is accelerating rural electrification through the government’s Last Mile Connectivity Programme (LMCP), with the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) rolling out fresh grid extensions and service drops to households clustered around existing transformers. New phases now underway aim to connect hundreds of thousands of additional homes, part of a national push that has already lifted electricity access rapidly over the past decade
Key facts
- Scale: A nationally coordinated package of LMCP contracts seeks to connect about 280,000 households across 32 counties, supporting roughly 1.4 million Kenyans with first-time access.
- Financing: Recent rounds have mobilized KSh 27 billion (about €180 million) from a coalition of partners including the Government of Kenya, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Union, and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
- Affordability: Eligible customers located within roughly 600 meters of an earmarked transformer pay a KSh 15,000 connection fee, typically structured as a “stima loan” repaid automatically through prepaid tokens.
- Momentum: Media spotlights and county launches in 2025 show REREC energizing new lines and transformers in rural counties, from Homa Bay to Migori, as the build-out intensifies.
Kenya’s electrification drive has been one of Africa’s fastest. Access climbed to around 79% in 2023, up sharply from a decade prior, with continued gains expected as grid extensions intersect with off-grid solutions in sparsely populated areas. Tracking national data also places Kenya among the fastest improvers, reaching approximately 76% in 2022 on the way to near-universal coverage.
REREC’s Strategic Plan 2023–2027 targets one million additional rural customers, the electrification of 15,000 public facilities, and deployment of 5,000 transformers, while adding about 18.37 MWp of clean energy to the system, goals aligned with the government’s ambition to achieve universal access on an accelerated timeline.
How the Last Mile model works
The LMCP tackles the “last leg” of electrification, short low-voltage spurs, service drops, and ready-boards, from existing or newly installed distribution transformers. By clustering connections around transformers, the program brings down per-household costs and speeds up energization.
- Eligibility & process: Households near a marked transformer (approximately within 600 meters) qualify. Most are single-phase customers (≤3 kVA) using prepaid meters. No cash deposit is required. The KSh 15,000 connection cost is advanced as a loan and recovered automatically (typically 50% of each token purchased goes to loan repayment until cleared).
- Who’s behind it: Implementation is shared between REREC and Kenya Power (KPLC), with financing support from AfDB, World Bank, AFD, EU, EIB, JICA, and the Government of Kenya.
This standardized, high-volume approach is how the program added around 1.55 million new grid connections by December 2022, and it remains central to the next wave of rural access.
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what’s changing in rural counties
Recent field updates show new lines, transformers, and household connections coming online:
- In Migori County (Awendo Sub-County), REREC commissioned a two-kilometer line with two transformers, connecting about 130 households, with additional county and national grid upgrades in the pipeline. Local leaders highlighted benefits for small businesses, irrigation, and household welfare.
- Homa Bay and other counties are seeing the programme extend the network to villages and trading centers, illustrating the “clustered” last-mile approach in action.
- Sector briefings describe a coordinated effort to “light up a village a day,” underscoring the urgency to reach unserved and underserved pockets ahead of Kenya’s universal access horizon.
Development gains
Education & health: Schools and clinics gain reliable lighting and refrigeration for vaccines, while households adopt clean lighting, reducing kerosene use and nighttime smoke exposure.
Enterprise & jobs: Rural shops, milling, welding, cold storage, and digital services expand operating hours and productivity. Irrigation pumps and agro-processing equipment drive value addition in farming communities. These benefits are regularly emphasized in county launches and community testimonies as fresh connections go live.
Digital inclusion: Prepaid metering and mobile payments make energy spending predictable, while electrified homes and centers enable phone charging, internet access, and e-government services.
The grid–off-grid handshake
While LMCP is grid-first, mini-grids and stand-alone solar fill gaps where grid extension is uneconomic. REREC is simultaneously delivering solar-hybrid mini-grids (with diesel backup) under the Kenya Electricity Modernisation Project and other facilities, including on islands like Wasini and in arid markets, creating a complementary pathway toward universal access.
Hurdles to watch
- Reliability at the edge: Rapidly rising connections can overload undersized transformers and feeders. Matching last-mile connections with upstream capacity, substations, feeders, voltage regulation, remains essential.
- Affordability & uptake: Even with the KSh 15,000 loan, some households delay wiring beyond the ready-board. Targeted subsidies and community aggregation can raise initial uptake.
- Cost recovery: Serving dispersed settlements challenges utility finances. Clustering connections, reducing losses, and improving metering and collections are key to sustainability.
- Productive use: To convert connections into development gains, counties and partners increasingly pair electrification with productive-use appliances, agricultural processing, cold chains, and SME finance.
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What’s next
- Delivery on the 280,000-home tranche: Track county-by-county energizations as contractors complete spurs and installs under the €180 million / KSh 27 billion package.
- Strategic Plan milestones: Watch REREC’s targets, one million rural customers, 5,000 transformers, 15,000 public facilities, and the funding partnerships needed to get there.
- Access metrics: Kenya’s access rate (about 79% in 2023) remains on an upward trajectory toward universal access, supported by both LMCP and off-grid programs.
- County showcases: Expect more local commissions like Awendo (Migori) and Homa Bay to spotlight tangible impacts for households and SMEs as the grid reaches deeper into rural wards.
