December in Kenya has a feel to it. You can hear the fridges making a noise as they keep the soda cold. The TVs are always on with shows and football games. Businesses stay open for hours because they want to make the most of the holiday shopping. Hospitals are always ready for emergencies. Factories work hard to meet their goals before the year ends. Electricity is what makes all of this happen. It is, like a helper that is always there. Until it stops working.
This Christmas, that silence is worrying.
Kenya is staring at the uncomfortable possibility of nationwide power blackouts after bank accounts belonging to the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) were frozen over a long-running Sh10 billion legal dispute. With 17 accounts locked, the agency responsible for high-voltage power transmission says it has effectively been switched off financially, unable to maintain lines, repair faults, pay staff, or keep the grid stable at a time of peak demand.
In simple terms, the lights could go out when Kenyans need them most.
How Did We Get Here?
The trouble dates back almost a decade. In 2016, Ketraco terminated contracts awarded to a Spanish firm for building a power line and a substation. What followed was a marathon legal battle, arbitration, appeals, and counter-appeals—the kind of case that outlives political cycles.
An arbitration tribunal eventually ruled that Ketraco had breached the contract, awarding the Spanish firm billions in compensation. Ketraco challenged the ruling all the way to the top courts and lost. Now, enforcement has arrived, fast and hard.
The result? A court order freezing Ketraco’s accounts to secure payment, leaving the utility without operational cash.
Why This Is Bigger Than a Court Case
Ketraco isn’t just another company. It manages the national electricity transmission grid, the backbone that moves power from generation plants to homes, hospitals, factories, and businesses. When that backbone weakens, the whole system feels it.
The situation was worsened after the High Court Judge Peter Mulwa declined to temporarily unfreeze Ketraco’s bank accounts, despite the company’s plea to have funds released to resume grid repair and maintenance. Instead, both Ketraco and the Spanish company pursuing the claim were ordered to appear before the judge today (Monday) for the hearing of the application, with the accounts remaining frozen in the meantime. This development comes against a concerning historical backdrop, with power outages per customer having steadily increased from 29.29 in 2020/21 to 47.54 in 2023/24, according to sector data. With electricity demand typically peaking during the festive season, the combination of a constrained grid and a transmission operator already immobilised by financial restrictions heightens the risk that even minor faults could escalate into widespread blackouts at a time when hospitals, factories, businesses, and households are most dependent on a stable supply of electricity.
According to court filings, the freeze has paralyzed operations. Routine maintenance is stalled. Emergency repairs are uncertain. Loan repayments are at risk. Salaries for more than 540 employees hang in the balance. And with high festive demand already known to strain the grid, even small faults could snowball into widespread outages.
Ketraco has warned that blackouts during the holidays could cripple industrial production, disrupt healthcare services, and trigger wider socio-economic tension. In a country where past overloads have already caused nationwide blackouts, the concern isn’t hypothetical; it’s a lived experience.
The Legal Knot That Won’t Untangle
Adding to the complexity is a twist that has raised eyebrows: the original Spanish firm has since been liquidated, and its rights transferred to another entity. Ketraco argues that freezing public funds before courts fully settle who is entitled to receive them risks misdirecting billions of shillings — money that could disappear beyond recovery.
At the heart of Ketraco’s argument is a broader question: Should enforcement against public utilities proceed in a way that threatens essential infrastructure? Or should courts exercise restraint where the public interest is directly at stake?
For now, the High Court has declined to lift the freeze, setting the stage for an urgent hearing as pressure mounts.
What This Means for Kenyans
This isn’t just a legal story; it’s a lived one. It affects whether factories run, hospitals operate smoothly, businesses stay open late, and families enjoy the holidays without candles and power banks working overtime.
It also exposes a deeper vulnerability: how financial, legal, and governance disputes, when unresolved for years, can suddenly collide with everyday life. The power grid doesn’t care about court calendars. It needs fuel, maintenance, and constant attention.
As Kenyans prepare for the festive season, the hope is that urgency, balance, and common sense prevail, because no one wants Christmas carols replaced by the hum of generators.
And if there’s one takeaway from this unfolding drama, it’s this: when critical infrastructure gets caught in legal crossfire, the cost isn’t abstract. It’s felt, switch by switch, home by home.
