World Bank: power and water costs hold Kenyan firms back

The World Bank Group published its Kenya Country Private Sector Diagnostic on 30 September. It looks at what holds private investment back and where it could grow, and the cost and reliability of power and water come up throughout.

The report puts Kenya’s electricity tariff at around US$0.26 per kilowatt-hour, among the highest in the region. In the World Bank’s 2025 survey of firms, almost 75% reported power outages and about 60% owned or shared a generator. Both are above the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Water is a problem too. More than 37% of firms said they did not have enough, against about 17% in other lower-middle-income countries.

Why the blackouts came back

The report links the return of blackouts partly to a pause on new power purchase agreements with independent producers. It ran from 2021 to November 2025 and held back investment in new generation.

Where it sees room to grow

It picks out avocado and mango exports, coastal tourism and the making of medical consumables, and estimates that the reforms it proposes could bring up to US$1.5 billion of extra private investment and 80,000 more, better-paid direct jobs over the medium term.

For medical consumables, it notes that industrial power averages US$0.18 to US$0.23 per kWh in Kenya, against about US$0.03 to US$0.05 in Egypt, Ethiopia and Morocco.