Kenya Power has sought the intervention of the Council of Governors (CoG) over disputed electricity bills with some 10 counties, avoiding direct engagements with governors following a bitter feud with City Hall last year.
The 10 owe the electricity distributor bills totaling Sh2.4 billion, exposing challenges the utility firm faces in its bid to collect power supply dues.
While Kenya Power records indicated that the 10 counties owed it Sh3.9 billion in unpaid electricity bills by the end of June 2025, documents held by the devolved units indicated that they owed it Sh1.5 billion.
At least 95.5 per cent of the disputed bills were held by the Nairobi City County, a disclosure by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu showed.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
“Review of data obtained from sampled county governments revealed variances in amounts owed by 10 county governments totaling Sh2,363,985,447,” Ms Gathungu said.
While records held by the Nairobi City County showed that it owed Kenya Power Sh1.346 billion as of June last year, Kenya Power records showed that City Hall owed it Sh3.6 billion, the public auditor said.
This created a disputed billing of Sh2.258 billion, forming 95.5 per cent of the variances reported across the 10 counties.
Bitter fights with Kenya Power
Migori County also had a disputed bill of Sh34.58 million after Kenya Power reported that the county owed it Sh54.5 million, against the county’s records, which showed a debt of Sh19.95 million.
Other counties with disputed bills between their records and Kenya Power were Homa Bay (Sh19.35 million), Kirinyaga (Sh14.2 million), Kakamega (Sh12.6 million), Isiolo (Sh12.5 million), Embu (Sh7.6 million), Bungoma (Sh3.6 million), Laikipia (Sh1.1 million), and Samburu (Sh55,525).
“Management subsequently provided additional information, including billing records, joint verifications between the company and affected county governments, and an ongoing collaboration with the CoG towards addressing the matter,” the Auditor-General said.
City Hall has previously been entangled in bitter fights with Kenya Power over electricity bills, with the disputes escalating early last year when Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration dumped garbage at the entrance of Kenya Power headquarters in Ngara, Nairobi.
The Sh3.9 billion that Kenya Power reported to be owed by the 10 counties was just part of the Sh39 billion debts the utility firm claims from different sets of customers for supplying them with electricity, the public auditor says.
