NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya was plunged into darkness on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, after a widespread electricity outage disrupted power supply across large parts of the country, paralysing businesses, transport services and households in what Kenya Power confirmed was the country’s first nationwide blackout of 2026.
The outage, which was first reported at around 8:30 p.m., affected vast sections of Nairobi, the Coast, Mt Kenya and parts of the Central Rift, leaving thousands of customers without electricity as the national utility rushed to restore supply.
Within minutes of the blackout, social media platforms were flooded with reports from affected residents across multiple counties, with many posting photos and videos showing entire neighbourhoods and commercial centres plunged into darkness.
Nairobi CBD grinds to a halt
The impact was particularly visible in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD), where much of the city centre lost electricity, forcing businesses to suspend operations earlier than usual.
A spot check established that numerous commercial premises along Kenyatta Avenue, Moi Avenue and Tom Mboya Street were left in darkness, with only a handful of buildings continuing operations using backup generators.
The outage also disrupted transport infrastructure.
Passengers using Nairobi Railway Station and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) station reported power interruptions, with videos circulating online showing sections of the facilities operating under emergency lighting.
Traffic across the capital quickly deteriorated after signalised intersections went dark.
Major junctions experienced heavy congestion as traffic lights failed, forcing police officers and Nairobi County traffic marshals to manually direct vehicles and ease traffic flow.
Blackout spreads beyond Nairobi
The outage extended well beyond the capital.
Residents reported power losses in:
- Thika Road corridor, including Kahawa Sukari
- Parts of Kiambu County
- Nakuru County
- Shanzu in Mombasa
- Ongata Rongai
Some areas, however, remained connected to the national grid, with residents in much of Lang’ata and Kayole reporting uninterrupted electricity supply.
Kenya Power confirms widespread outage
At 9:05 p.m., Kenya Power issued an official customer alert confirming that the interruption affected multiple regions simultaneously.
The utility said the outage had affected customers across:
- Nairobi
- Coast region
- Mt Kenya region
- Parts of the Central Rift
It added that sections of the North Rift and Western Kenya remained on electricity supply.
Kenya Power said its technical teams had been dispatched immediately to establish the cause of the outage and restore electricity as quickly as possible.
The company apologised to customers for the inconvenience and appealed for patience as restoration efforts continued.
Questions over grid reliability
Although Kenya Power did not immediately disclose the cause of the outage, the incident is likely to renew scrutiny over the resilience of Kenya’s national electricity transmission network.
Large-scale blackouts typically occur when faults develop on high-voltage transmission infrastructure or when generating capacity becomes unstable, forcing protective systems to disconnect sections of the grid to prevent more extensive damage.
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Such outages often require engineers to restore electricity gradually to avoid overloading the system during re-energisation.
Power restored after five-hour disruption
Hours after the outage disrupted transport, businesses and households across much of the country, Kenya Power announced that electricity supply had been fully restored.
In a customer alert issued at 6:22 a.m. on Thursday, the utility said electricity had been restored to all affected customers by 2:00 a.m.
“We are pleased to report that power supply was fully restored to all affected customers by 2:00 am today,” Kenya Power said.
The company thanked customers for their patience during the restoration exercise.
“We truly appreciate your patience and support as our teams worked to restore service,” the statement added.
While confirming that electricity had been restored across all affected regions, the utility did not disclose the cause of the nationwide outage.
Latest in a series of major blackouts
Wednesday night’s outage is the latest in a series of significant power disruptions that have exposed the vulnerability of Kenya’s electricity transmission network.
The blackout came just over three months after another widespread outage on December 4, 2025, when a fault on the national electricity transmission network disrupted power supply across several parts of the country before electricity was restored in phases.
Earlier this week, Kenya Power had separately announced planned maintenance works affecting parts of Kisumu, Nyeri, Embu and Kirinyaga counties between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Unlike the scheduled maintenance exercise, Wednesday night’s outage was unexpected and affected regions far beyond the planned work areas, disrupting economic activity in several of Kenya’s busiest urban centres before power was restored about five hours later.
Although electricity has since returned, the incident is expected to intensify debate over the reliability of Kenya’s national grid and the need for continued investment in transmission infrastructure to reduce the risk of future nationwide outages.
