Such power losses can cut revenues as much as 20 percent for businesses that can’t easily use or afford backup generators, World Bank said.
Even companies that don’t experience blackouts are likely to suffer as utilities pass on the price of continually replacing transformers.
In 2012, replacing transformers cost Kenya Power $4m, about seven percent of its net profit, according to Kevin Sang, a communications officer for the company. Umeme Uganda, a power distributor, had to spend $2m this year, said Patrick Mwesigwa, the company’s chief financial officer.
One big problem is that the oil that cools electrical transformers is also great for frying cassava, chips and fish. Other than fuel, thieves tout it as a “remedy” for wounds, and even to make cosmetics, said Tom Muhumuza, a senior project manager for Ferdsult Engineering Services, a Ugandan firm that deals with energy projects.
The copper wire from transformers is sold to fix motors and as scrap metal, which enters the global market and can end up as far away as India and China, Muhumuza said.
Kenya represents the problem in microcosm. On paper, its goals for electrification seem promising: It’s sub-Saharan Africa’s fifth biggest economy, according to the World Bank, with better infrastructure than most. Kenya Power Ltd aims to bring electricity to 70 percent of all Kenyans within five years, up from the current 35 percent.
Kenya has even had some success fighting transformer vandalism. In 2013, 535 transformers were vandalised across the country, a stark drop from 898 in 2011, according to Kenya Power. That may be due to a 2013 law that imposes a minimum 10-year jail sentence on transformer vandals.
Do they use PCBs in Africa?