Kenya Power lost 11,844 customers in the North and Central Rift Valley regions in the year to June 2023, making it the only region where the utility lost clients, even as it steps up disconnections to deal with bill defaults.
The power distributor grew its customer base by 3.3 percent during the period to 9.21 million customers, adding thousands of new customers in Nairobi, Coast, West Kenya, South Nyanza, Mt Kenya, and North Eastern.
It, however, lost 7,069 customers in North Rift and a further 4,775 customers in Central Rift, making them the only two regions where the company failed to expand its customer base.
Kenya Power Managing Director Dr Joseph Siror could not be reached on time to explain why the two regions lost customers, but the company has in recent years accelerated the disconnection of power to customers who have accumulated electricity bills.
The utility has been struggling to recover debt from customers who refuse to pay despite consuming electricity, forcing the utility to hire debt collectors to go after the defaulters.
The defaults are projected to further increase following the approval of a new three-year tariff by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) which took effect in April.
The new tariffs saw power prices rise by as much as 63 percent for some customer categories, placing a strain on households that were already struggling under a high cost of living.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu for instance says the company risks losing Sh1.8 billion in unpaid electricity bills. She revealed that the amount was due from 729,732 customers who were billed during the Financial Year 2022/23 but declined to pay.
“Analysis of post-paid billing data and payments for the financial year under review revealed that 729,732 accounts were billed for electricity consumption costing Sh1,803,302,369 but had not made a payment towards settling the bills,” said Ms Gathungu in her audit report on the company’s financials covering the period to June 2023.
In its latest annual report, Kenya Power said it is employing several strategies that have proved largely successful in recovering debt from non-paying customers.
Kenya Power is preparing to connect a further 280,000 customers to the national grid in the fourth phase of the Last Mile Connectivity Programme for Sh28 billion.
The project is financed by the European Union, the European Investment Bank, and the French Development Agency.
