| dc.description.abstract | Kenya is among the developing countries ranked as having the lowest connectivity to electricity in the world (less than 20%) which has negatively affected social progress. Preliminary investigation from literature reveals that, outsourcing, social economic factors, physical infrastructure and financing are likely to influence connectivity to the national grid. This research project uses a classic example of Mount Kenya south region of the Kenya Power to investigate the factors influencing electricity connectivity in rural Kenya.
The research objectives were therefore to investigate the extent to which outsourcing of power line construction, socio-demographic factors, infrastructure and financing influence electricity connectivity in Mount Kenya south. Descriptive survey design was followed to collect primary data from 116 Kenya Power staff at five business centers of Mount Kenya south.
Data analysis techniques included descriptive frequencies, aggregating scores and measures of central tendency. Findings indicate that, the four thematic factors were studied all influence electricity connectivity in Kenya but to different magnitudes. Infrastructure is the most influential factor at 92% followed by social economic factors at 27.6% whereas outsourcing is least important at 18%.
Such results indicate that more policy attention needs to be accorded infrastructure and social economic factors. Other factors emerge that may influence connectivity such as the recent connection loan facility called 'Stima loan', electricity tariffs and rural settlement patterns. Such additional factors become crucial policy related factors that may influence electricity connectivity in rural Kenya.
As a result, the researcher recommends policies that ensure improvement of rural physical infrastructure and more dense, rather than sparse settlement patterns to make supply of electricity cost effective. The country should also exploit alternative sources of power to supply those remote areas. Further studies are encouraged to investigate the extent to which Stima loans and prepaid metering system have influenced rural connectivity in rural Kenya. | en_US |
