With the record inflow of water to the Seven Forks dams and with Masinga reservoir full to overflowing – it has reached its optimum capacity of 1056.5 metres on 10 May - the generation of hydro power has returned to its former high levels. Ken-Gen therefore gave Aggreko Plc three months notice of its intention to terminate 100 megawatts of emergency power from August 2010.

Output to the national grid has gone down with the terminating of 150 megawatts of power from the emergency plants by the end of March 2010. This has left Aggreko to generate 140 MW at Embakasi and Naivasha stations. On 11 May 2010 Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) said fuel cost adjustment- a varying item on the power bills that is linked to the amount of power on the national grid that is generated from thermal sources - had dropped from Sh6.72 in April to Sh4.98. “We have had a significant reduction of nearly 40 per cent in the cost of fuel since November 2009 and we could see more cuts in the coming months because of improved hydrology h,” said KPLC managing director Joseph Njoroge in a press briefing.

Consumers should, however, not expect much change in their individual power bills because fuel cost charges only form one of the variables that determine the overall value of the bill,” he added.