Kenya Power refutes report on inflation of electricity bills by 20%
The Kenya Power Company has refuted claims made by the Business Daily report on August 7 on the inflation of electricity bills.
The report featured a revelation made by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in front of a parliamentary committee stating Kenya Power has been inflating electricity bills causing consumers to be overcharged by 20%.
Nancy Gathungu stated a forensic examination of the production, transmission, and distribution of energy, revealed that invoices do not correspond to real use, and additional fees imposed on customers by the utility are not identifiable in the billing system.
“Almost 20 percent of the bill to consumers cannot be matched to actual consumption neither can the distribution company attribute it to a specific consumer,” Nancy Gathungu stated.
Kenya Power refuted these claims saying they are non-factual and are geared towards building a false narrative around the cost of electricity.
“Part of power system losses are inevitable during transmission and distribution of power; therefore, the regulator sets a threshold for the allowable system losses that is factored in the tariff. In the current financial year, the regulator has allowed system losses up to a maximum of 18.5%. Kenya Power meets the cost of system losses incurred above what is allowed,” read the statement in part.
In their defense, the company stated that it operates in a regulated environment that adheres to the Energy Act of 2019 and that all charges in electricity bills are approved by EPRA.
In addition to that, it claimed, that all electricity bills are computed based on customer consumption which is the difference between current meter reading and previous meter reading.
Kenya Power purchases electricity from 58 power suppliers, including KenGen, IPPS, REREC, and imports, through 100 distribution points. It has been confirmed that each of these distribution points contains main and backup meters, as specified in the relevant power purchase agreement.