Customers queue at Kenya Power offices. The firm has begun a crackdown
on unauthorised domestic and industrial connections. FILE
By NEVILLE OTUKI, notuki@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Kenya Power begins crackdown on unauthorised domestic and industrial connections.
- The exercise, which commenced on Monday, targets large industrial users, business establishments and households with an aim of sealing loopholes in pay evasion.
- The power distributor is now banking on the exercise to trim losses eating into its revenues and boost service delivery.
Electricity consumers face prosecution for
illegal connections and meter tampering in a fresh nationwide campaign
aimed at reducing Kenya Power’s loss of revenues.
The exercise, which commenced on Monday, targets
large industrial users, business establishments and households with an
aim of sealing loopholes in pay evasion.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed power
distributor is now banking on the exercise to trim losses eating into
its revenues and boost service delivery.
“We want to address the issue of commercial losses
to the company which occur partly because of theft of electricity. We
expect the exercise to take a couple of months,” said Kenya Power
installation inspection and fraud control deputy manager Thagichu Kiiru
at the launch of the inspection exercise in Nairobi.
“If we find that an establishment has been under
billed due to meter tampering, we will backdate power usage to recover
money owed to us and prosecute the affected.”
Users face a fine of Sh1 million and a jail term of one year if convicted of the crimes under Section 64 of the Energy Act 2006.
Like with past inspections, Kenya Power is likely
to face resistance in informal settlements where most households are
connected to the power grid illegally.
The utility firm said that it loses up to five per
cent of its revenues or Sh2.3 billion to electricity theft per year.
The company’s electricity sales stood at Sh47.9 billion in the full year
ended June 2013.
Large power users in Nairobi’s Industrial Area are
targeted in the first phase before the inspection is rolled out to
other parts of the country.
Kenya Power has 2.4 million customers, out of
which 5,000 are large-scale power users — industries, commercial offices
and institutions — who account for up to 60 per cent of power sales, a
fact it seeks to leverage on.
“If we are able to take care of large power users,
then we would remain assured 60 per cent of our revenue is safe,” Mr
Kiiru noted.
Large power users are those that consume a minimum
of 180,001 kilowatts hour per year. Half of the users are in Nairobi’s
Industrial Area and central business district.
The firm is also looking to boost billing accuracy
in households on prepaid meters currently standing at 400,000
countrywide. It is targeting to instal 350,000 pre-paid meters this
year.
It said that a further 18.6 per cent of its
revenue was being lost in electricity transmission from sub-stations to
end-users due to inefficient use of power conductors.
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