Content creator Anita Nderu feels cheated when it comes to her electricity bill and has even provided a screenshot of her total bill showing a receipt of sh383,847.
The mother of one is faced with a bill she feels she shouldn’t settle because it doesn’t make sense. “This is our electricty bill,” she used horrified emojis.
According to Anita what is interesting is that earlier she paid Sh8k but now it has more than tripled.
“When I checked the bill this month I was shocked!!! Please note nothing has changed in our consumption all year. In fact, the months that we aren’t even home our bill is higher than the months we are home. KPLC customer care please make this make sense.”
She feels cheated by KPLC. “When I enquired you blamed it on our fridge, inflation, and the dollar. This is.”
She wants an explanation how how her bill arrived at such a large figure.
“And somehow our car which has a separate metre that we charge daily has cost us barely anything all year? Please make it make sense. For context, our bill used to be sh8,000-9,000 a month.”
In August this year, KPLC denied claims that it exaggerated consumer electricity bills by up to 20 percent of power not consumed.
The auditor general report to the National Assembly Committee on Energy showed Kenya Power exaggerated electricity bills to consumers.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said up to 20% of the electricity that was not consumed and billed is not reflected in KPLC’s systems.
Gathungu noted a miscalculation of system losses by the utility firm was caused by arithmetic errors, outdated reports, faulty check meters, and discrepancies in existing check meters.
The Energy committee heard that KPLC did not countercheck invoices from Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
“There was a lack of primary access to the key indices, which limited the ability of IPPs and KPLC to independently verify the authenticity of prices in the invoices where such indices were applied. The risk from lack of access to these key indices means KPLC is limited in its oversight role of ensuring the submitted invoices were correct,” Gathungu’s report continued.
The report added that Kenya Power has been passing electricity transmission losses to consumers, a loss the committee said should only be shared by KPLC and IPPs.
Kenya Power refuted the claims saying power losses from the transmission are factored into the tariff.
“In the current financial year, the regulator has allowed system losses up to a maximum of 18.5%. Kenya Power meets the cost of system losses incurred above what is allowed,” said KPLC in a statement.