Most regions across Kenya were in complete darkness following a nationwide power outage on December 18, a few minutes past midnight.

The Kenya Power and Lighting Company on Wednesday issued an update on factors surrounding the outage.

According to the utility company, the outage had affected most parts of the country except for some Western and Rift Valley areas.

''We are pleased to report that power has been restored to most parts of North Rift, Central Rift, Western Kenya, South Nyanza, and sections of Nairobi and Mount Kenya regions following a widespread outage,'' KPLC announced in a statement.

However, according to KPLC, by Wednesday morning, most of the regions in Nairobi and other adjacent areas had been reconnected to the grid.

The outage extended into the early hours of Wednesday, forcing many people to embark on their daily activities without access to power.

The latest power outage is reminiscent of a similar one witnessed in September this year, during which part of the country was left in darkness for most of the night.

At the time, Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, who had just assumed office, was under pressure to explain the cause of the situation and outline the efforts the government was taking to address the issue.

According to Wandayi, the outage was caused by a trip on the Suswa substation powerline, which supports much of the country's supply infrastructure.

"The tripping of the Suswa line was followed by the failure of the Ethiopia-Kenya 500kV interconnector, which was carrying 200MW at the time," stated Wandayi. This double blow led to the loss of 488MW, a staggering 27.3 per cent of Kenya’s total electricity generation at the time, plunging much of the country into darkness.

In recent months, the government has indicated the need for financial alternatives to boost the country's ageing power infrastructure.

This prompted the government to pursue a deal under private-public partnerships (PPPs) due to fiscal constraints.

Initially, the government was in the early stages of engaging the Indian group of companies, Adani Holdings Limited.

However, widespread protests from Kenyans forced President William Ruto to direct the immediate cancellation of the deal during his State of the Nation address at Parliament in Nairobi on 21 November.