Government says no backdating of electricity bills

The Ministry of Energy has put a lid on a proposed controversial move to backdate electricity bills for Kenyans in a move to recover costs.

The move has shocked and angered Kenyans who have vowed to fight it in court with some lawyers taking up the issue pro bono.

The backdating was reported to help Kenya Power recover Ksh8.1 billion costs incurred on diesel generators last year but were not factored in the monthly charges.

Energy CS Charles Keter said that the move will not happen saying the backdating will only happen for the month of December caused by a system upgrade.

“The reports that bills are being backdated is not true, we do not backdate electricity bills. What we are facing at the moment is billing fluctuation following an upgrade of billing system by KPLC which started implementation in December,” says Keter.

The minister says the billing issue affects only those on analog systems.

“This touches on 2.4 million customers who are on analog,” says Keter. “We have 6.4 million customers, 2.4 million are on analog, 3 million are on prepaid while 600,000 are industrial and commercial customers who have smart meters,” he says.

Mr. Keter says the system upgrade was to ensure that all analog meters must be read by a KPLC employee bringing to an end the issue of bill estimations.

“We have given KPLC a directive, from today henceforth, there will be no estimation of meter readings. This is to avoid backdating of bills,” he said.

People who have been charged exorbitant amounts, Keter says they visit any KPLC office and their issues will be sorted.

He also touched on other issues like increasing of tarrifs saying that KPLC, ERC or the Ministry of Energy have no mandate to increase tarrifs saying that there is a lenghty process before that can happen.