NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 1 – Electricity consumption in Kenya increased across all customer categories in the year ended June 2026, with domestic consumers recording an 18.87 percent rise while large commercial and industrial users remained the biggest consumers of power, according to the latest Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) statistics.

EPRA’s 2026 report covers the performance of the electricity, petroleum and renewable energy subsectors for the financial year ended June 30, 2026.

“As a sector, this number tells us the demand that households, businesses and industries have for electricity, and it helps us plan for generation and transmission infrastructure,” EPRA Acting Director General Dr Joseph Oketch said during the release of the 2025/2026 Energy and Petroleum Statistics Report.

Domestic electricity consumption increased by 686.75 gigawatt-hours (GWh), rising from 3,640.32 GWh in the year ended June 2025 to 4,327.07 GWh in June 2026.

EPRA attributed the increase to higher per capita electricity consumption and growth in the number of domestic customers.

Domestic users accounted for 34.77 percent of total electricity consumption, up from 32.13 percent a year earlier.

Large commercial and industrial consumers, however, continued to account for the largest share of electricity consumption at 47.57 percent.

Their consumption increased by 5.33 percent from 5,620.71 GWh to 5,920.06 GWh during the period.

Despite the increase in actual consumption, the category’s share of total electricity use fell from 49.61 percent to 47.57 percent.

EPRA attributed the decline to stronger growth in consumption among other customer categories.

Small commercial consumers, which comprise micro, small and medium enterprises, recorded a 5.17 percent increase in electricity consumption from 1,913.26 GWh to 2,012.17 GWh.

Their share of total electricity consumption declined from 16.89 percent to 16.17 percent, with EPRA linking the reduction to stronger growth in domestic and electric mobility consumption.

Electricity consumption for street lighting also increased during the year, rising by 15.12 percent from 150.43 GWh in the year ended June 2025 to 173.17 GWh in June 2026.

Its share of total electricity consumption increased slightly from 1.33 percent to 1.39 percent.

Electric mobility recorded the fastest percentage growth among the customer categories, with consumption rising by 143.01 percent from 5.04 GWh to 12.25 GWh.

The sharp increase was linked to growing uptake of the e-mobility tariff. The number of customers under the tariff increased to 543 by June 2026, compared with 115 in the previous year.

The growth in electricity use was accompanied by an increase in overall electricity generation.

EPRA reported that total electricity generation rose by 8.44 percent to 15,692.81 GWh during the year, while peak demand reached 2,514.28 megawatts on June 29, 2026, an 8.55 percent increase from the previous year.

The latest figures also show that electricity demand is concentrated in particular parts of the country.

The regional figure was attributed by EPRA to the area’s large population and concentration of industrial activity. Consumption in the Nairobi region increased by 10.09 percent from 4,964.34 GWh recorded in the previous year.