Kenya Power customers living in rural areas connected with postpaid meters will be required to migrate to prepaid ones within the next three years as part of reforms by the utility to reduce power theft and meter reading costs.
The company will also stop connecting rural customers with postpaid meters, even as it seeks to transition to smart meters in the long-term.
“All rural customers will be on the prepaid metering system and will be transitioned to smart metering in the long-term,” says the utility in its latest annual report.
“Further, existing postpaid meters in the rural areas will be retrofitted to prepaid meters over the next three years,” it adds.
Kenya Power currently has an estimated 2.1 million customers on postpaid billing while 6.8 million customers are on the prepaid system.
The utility, however, earned Sh120.18 billion or 63 per cent of its revenues from postpaid customers and just 37 per cent from prepaid customers, underlining the fact that most postpaid customers are large power consumers.
The company made a net loss of Sh3.19 billion in the year to June 2023, but has identified reforms in its metering systems as part of measures that can not only raise revenue collection, but also seal revenue leakages.
“The electricity meter is the cash register and thus a critical component to the success of our business,” it says.
Prepaid meters enables the company to collect revenue upfront, which is important at a time it is facing a rapid rise in electricity defaults from postpaid customers.
Kenya Power employs thousands of meter readers who visit customers in residential buildings and business premises. But because the meter readers are not enough, the utility is forced to estimate the monthly consumption of millions of customers, leading to numerous complaints of inflated bills.
With prepaid meters, the utility is aiming to reduce defaults and lower the cost of retaining meter readers.
The metering plan includes smart metering of all large power customers by December 2024 and metering domestic and small businesses customers consuming above 200 units on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure within the next three years.
