No disconnection of electricity supply for next 30 days, pledges Kenya Power

Electricity consumers can breathe some sigh of relief after Kenya Power, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and lawyer Apollo Mboya entered a consent over inflated bills.

In the consent recorded before Justice Chacha Mwita, Kenya Power has undertaken to bill its customers for consumption of electricity in accordance with the electricity tariffs approved by ERC.

Kenya Power has also agreed not to disconnect electricity supply to its clients for a period of 30 days within which consumers are expected to raise queries and have their bills settled by the firm.

During the 30-day period, Kenya Power will have a moratorium suspending disconnection of the electricity accounts of all customers who would have queries with regard to their bills.

“Kenya Power shall allow its customers who may have issues relating to their bills following the migration to the Integrated Customer Management System in Nairobi and its environs in September 2017 and the countrywide roll out in 2017 a period of 30 days from the recording of the consent,” reads the agreement.

Further, Kenya Power has agreed to establish billing query counters across its commercial offices across the country where its customers will have their billing issue resolved.

ERC, on its part, agreed to accord the Electricity Consumers Society of Kenya an opportunity of holding public forums for the purposes of articulating and ventilating electricity consumers concerns.

Following the recording of the consent, the case in which Apollo Mboya sued Kenya Power over inflated bills stands settled. However, if the consent is not honored by the parties involved in the case, Mboya has the right to seek court redress.

Lawyer Apollo Mboya and the Electricity Consumer Society of Kenya sued Kenya Power over the high bills amounting to Ksh.8.1 billion for the months of November and December 2017.

The petitioners wanted the High Court to declare that Kenya Power made a false and misleading representation in electricity tariffs and bills, thereby infringing on the rights of consumers.

The two petitioners also wanted the court to issue a permanent injunction for Kenya Power not to send its customers backdated bills.

They also wanted an order for the director general to conduct a forensic audit of Kenya Power and the exploitation of electricity generation capacity to determine consumers’ value for money.