A standoff between Bomet Water Company and KPLC is what led to water shortage within the county affecting services, KNA Bomet has established.
Speaking to KNA in his office, Bomet Water Company Managing Director Mr Patrick Langat confirmed the findings calling it unfortunate while that the cumulative bill of Sh 40 million they owe KPLC led to power disconnection.
As a result, residents of Bomet town, Sotik and Longisa among other areas have not received water for the last one week.
“We have been having a long term standoff with KPLC due to the cumulative bill we owe them since February 2020 which was Sh 50 million, on July last year we paid 14 million but since then the bill has increased again forcing them to cut off the power supply to our sites,” said Langat.
Langat also noted that the production cost of delivering this essential commodity to consumers is not directly proportional to what users pay from the water they have used hence making it hard to cope with electricity bills.
However, the water company has been receiving subsidized revenue of Sh 8.3 million monthly from the County government which they have been using to settle the long term debt.
“We have been receiving a subsidy bill from the County government but with a delay of disbursement of revenues from the National government the county has not been able to settle our debts,” said Langat.
The Managing Director added, “Our services have also been crippled by the government’s directive to allow the customers to enjoy its services even if they are unable to pay in time, many customers owe us but we can’t disconnect them from our services.”
The company has however reached an agreement with KPLC after paying Sh 10 million and promising to pay the remaining amount in a month time.
By Lamech Arisa
