Kenya Power has denied any electrical malfunction as the cause of the tragic fire that claimed the lives of 21 students at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County last week.
In a statement, Kenya Power clarified that it promptly cut off electricity to the school as soon as they were alerted to the incident.
“As a Company, electrical safety is of utmost priority in all our operations. Upon receiving the news of this fire incident, our team in Nyeri switched off power supply to the school as a precautionary measure while handling fire incidences,” the statement read.
The company revealed that a technical team was dispatched to the scene on the same day to conduct a preliminary inspection.
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Their investigation determined that the line supplying electricity to the school was a low-voltage line from the Mweiga Substation, which was functioning normally at the time of the fire.
Kenya Power also noted that its equipment—including the meter, cables, earthing systems, and fuses—was found in good condition.
Additionally, the fire did not affect the two prepaid meters installed within the school’s premises, nor did it impact other nearby customers connected to the same transformer.
“Based on the findings of the preliminary analysis of our protection system, from the meter box to the substation where the medium voltage line serving the school emanates from, we have ascertained there was no link between the cause of the fire and any fault on our network as alleged in sections of media reports,” the statement further added.
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The devastating fire, which occurred last Thursday, destroyed a dormitory where 164 students were sleeping, tragically claiming the lives of 21.
On Monday, the process of identifying the remains of 19 students began at Narumoro Level 5 Hospital.
Central Regional Commissioner Pius Murugu confirmed that all students who had been in the affected dormitory have been accounted for
