MEP Engineering

Published: October 2023 | Last updated: May 2025 Sources: Energy Act No. 1 of 2019 (Cap. 314), Kenya Law Reports; Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Compliance Surveillance Framework; Energy Management Regulations, 2012 (subsidiary legislation under the Energy Act).

Energy Audit

What is an Energy Audit?

This can also be referred to as an energy assessment, it’s is an inspection, survey and critical analysis of energy flows for the identification of energy savings opportunities in a building, process or system to reduce the amount of energy input into the system, without negatively affecting the output(s) such as production volumes, safety or quality. The primary goal is to identify areas where energy is lost thereby lowering utility costs and minimizing environmental impact.

By completing an energy audit, individuals and companies get a bigger picture of their energy consumption, opportunities for improvement, and compliance with regulators and also set a benchmark for evaluating their performance against their peers.

If your business or facility consumes more than 180,000 kWh of electricity per year, you are classified as a designated energy consumer under Kenya’s Energy Act 2019 — and you are legally required to commission an energy audit at least once every three years. That threshold is lower than most building owners and facility managers realise. A medium-sized commercial office block, a manufacturing plant running standard equipment, or a hotel with 80 rooms and year-round air conditioning will typically cross it without difficulty.

This post sets out exactly what the law requires, what happens if you do not comply, and — more importantly — what a properly conducted energy audit will actually do for your operating costs.

What the Energy Act 2019 Says About Energy Audits

The Energy Act No. 1 of 2019 (Cap. 314) is the governing legislation for energy management in Kenya, enforced by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). Under Section 188, any factory or building consuming more than 180,000 kWh per year is designated as a large energy consumer, triggering mandatory compliance obligations. Section 204 requires designated consumers to commission an energy audit at least once every three years, conducted by an auditor accredited under Section 203. Section 205 goes further — designated consumers must also submit annual energy consumption reports to EPRA in the intervening years, meaning the regulator has continuous visibility into your facility’s energy performance.

An energy audit under the Act is not a general inspection. The Act defines it specifically as the verification, monitoring and analysis of energy use, culminating in a formal technical report that includes cost-benefit analysis and a documented action plan for reducing consumption. This report serves as your compliance submission to EPRA and must be prepared by a registered, accredited professional — an informal assessment or internal review does not satisfy the legal requirement.

Non-compliance carries serious consequences. Failure to meet EPRA’s requirements exposes your business to a fine of not less than Ksh 1,000,000, a prison term of not less than one year, or both upon conviction. EPRA’s compliance surveillance framework also provides for criminal prosecution, licence suspension, and licence revocation in cases of serious or repeated breach. With EPRA progressively expanding enforcement activity and annual reporting creating a clear paper trail, non-compliant designated consumers are increasingly easy for the regulator to identify.

Does Your Facility Qualify as a Designated Consumer?

The 180,000 kWh annual threshold works out to an average monthly consumption of 15,000 kWh — which is the CI1 tariff entry point on the Kenya Power billing schedule. If your business is already billed on a CI1, CI2, or higher commercial/industrial tariff, you are almost certainly a designated consumer.

The following types of facilities typically exceed the threshold:

• Commercial office buildings — a 3,000m² office block with standard fit-out and air conditioning will typically consume 250,000–400,000 kWh/year
• Hotels and serviced apartments — even a modestly sized hotel with 60–80 rooms and continuous HVAC will typically exceed 180,000 kWh/year
• Shopping centres and retail complexes — lighting, HVAC, escalators, and food court equipment collectively make retail one of the highest-consumption building types
• Manufacturing and industrial facilities — process equipment, compressed air systems, and production lighting typically place factories well above the threshold
• Hospitals and healthcare facilities — medical equipment, 24-hour HVAC, and hot water systems make healthcare among the most energy-intensive building categories
• Educational institutions — universities and large secondary schools with science laboratories, computer centres, and large campus lighting loads

If you are uncertain whether your facility crosses the threshold, your Kenya Power bill will confirm it — or contact our team for a quick preliminary assessment.

What an Energy Audit Actually Involves

Many facility managers have a vague picture of what an energy audit entails. In practice, a properly conducted audit under the Energy Act follows a structured two-phase process.

Phase 1: Preparation and Pre-Analysis

Before any site visit takes place, the audit team collects and reviews your energy data — typically 12–24 months of billing records, equipment schedules, and operational profiles. This preliminary analysis identifies areas of unusually high consumption, flags equipment that may be operating inefficiently, and shapes the focus of the site investigation. For larger facilities, modern portable data loggers are installed in advance to record load profiles over several days — providing a far more accurate picture than spot readings alone.

Phase 2: Site Investigation and Report

The site visit involves a systematic inspection of all major energy-consuming systems: electrical distribution and metering, HVAC equipment and controls, lighting, building envelope, motors and drives, compressed air systems, and hot water plant. The audit team measures actual performance data against design specifications and benchmarks, interviews operational and maintenance staff, and documents all findings with photographic and metered evidence.

The output is a formal audit report that includes:

• A detailed breakdown of energy consumption by system and end use
• Identification of energy waste and inefficiency, quantified in kWh and Ksh
• A prioritised schedule of recommended measures, with capital cost estimates and simple payback periods for each
• An action plan structured for implementation — distinguishing between no-cost behavioural changes, low-cost operational adjustments, and capital investment measures
• A baseline energy performance index against which future performance can be benchmarked

This report is both your compliance document for EPRA and your practical roadmap for reducing energy costs.

The Business Case: What Energy Audits Deliver

Compliance with the Energy Act is the legal floor — but the financial return from a well-executed audit is the more compelling argument for most facility managers.

• Direct energy cost savings. Audits consistently identify savings of 10–30% of annual energy spend — for a facility on a CI1 tariff consuming 500,000 kWh per year at an effective rate of Ksh 22.00/kWh, a 20% reduction translates to Ksh 2.2 million saved every year.
• No-cost and low-cost quick wins. A significant share of audit recommendations — aligning HVAC schedules with occupancy, correcting power factor, rebalancing electrical loads, adjusting compressed air pressure — require zero capital investment yet can collectively cut consumption by 5–10% within weeks of implementation.
• Data-driven capital expenditure decisions. The audit calculates simple payback periods for every recommended investment — LED retrofits, inverter drives on motors, chiller replacement, solar PV — so your spending decisions are based on verified site data, not contractor estimates.
• Access to green finance and building certifications. A documented audit history is increasingly a prerequisite for EDGE certification and preferential loan facilities from development finance institutions, putting compliant building owners ahead of a market trend that is only accelerating.
• Meeting ESG and sustainability reporting obligations. For manufacturers with export customers, hospitality groups, and corporate occupiers with sustainability commitments, a formal audit provides the verified consumption baseline and reduction roadmap that ESG frameworks and international buyers now routinely require.

Who to Conduct Your Audit — and Why It Matters

Under Section 203 of the Energy Act, energy audits must be conducted by auditors accredited and registered by EPRA. An audit carried out by an unaccredited individual or firm does not satisfy your legal compliance obligation, regardless of its technical quality.

Accredited energy auditors bring a combination of engineering competence — typically in electrical, mechanical, and building services engineering — with specific training in audit methodology, measurement and verification (M&V), and financial analysis. The audit report they produce carries legal weight as your compliance submission to EPRA.

Contact our MEP engineering team of energy professionals to conduct energy audits that satisfy your EPRA compliance requirement and deliver the practical, actionable findings that make a material difference to your energy bill.

Our audit engagements cover:

• Preliminary energy assessment to confirm designation status and audit scope
• Full metered data collection and pre-analysis
• Comprehensive site survey across all building services systems — electrical, HVAC, lighting, plumbing, and building envelope
• Formal audit report with EPRA-compliant documentation
• Prioritised recommendations with cost-benefit analysis and implementation timelines
• Post-audit support for implementing recommended measures if agreed upon.

Get Your Energy Audit Started

If your facility consumes more than 180,000 kWh per year, your three-year audit clock is running. Whether you are approaching the deadline, already overdue, or simply want to understand your energy performance before EPRA comes knocking, the right time to commission an audit is now.

Reigai Solutions provides accredited energy auditing and MEP engineering services for commercial, industrial, and hospitality facilities across Kenya and East Africa. We work with building owners, facility managers, hotel operators, manufacturers, and contractors to deliver audits that satisfy your legal obligations and identify the specific measures that will reduce your energy costs.

Commission your energy audit today →