The Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with the police, has recovered tons of vandalised copper winding wire in a crackdown operation in Nairobi.

 State Department for Energy Principal Secretary (PS) Alex Wachira noted that thousands of Kenyans experience frequent power outages due to such vandalism of transformers, affecting businesses adversely.

“We have a crackdown in this yard as a beginning and we will tackle all illegal activities in the Energy sector to provide quality service to the citizens of the country,” Wachira said.

Speaking at Triple Seven Collectors Limited in Tassia ward, Embakasi East Constituency, the PS said that if one individual is caught, he or she will be an example to others in curbing theft.

He said that the alleged suspect in question, owner of the Triple Seven Collectors Limited, popularly known as Maina, will be arraigned in court once the police complete investigations.

The copper winding wire, usually located in oil complying transformers, helps in various capacities such as electrical resistance, continuity of insulation, elongation, and sponginess.

According to the Energy Act by the Kenya Power and Kenya Generating Company (Kengen) drafted last year, copper winding wires were banned from usage as it shortens one’s life expectancy thus more companies were encouraged to opt for Fibre optic cables.

The companies pointed out a few guidelines traders in the Energy sector need to adhere to including one must have an operating license issued to him by the companies, documentation of all transactions between traders and the supplier involved and must be able to pay all government tax duty.

They also stated that copper winding wire must have the manufacturer’s trademark for easy identification, describe the type of wire, net mass, date of manufacture, normal dimension of wire and the grade of insulation.