The number of Kenyans connected to electricity increased 7.1 million this year, which is a 30 per cent increase from last year.
The acting CEO Kenya Power, Eng. Jared Othieno said an extra 440, 000 electricity consumers were connected to the national grid this year.
Othieno further said that the company was committed to meeting the government’s envisaged universal electricity connection of 2020 by increasing their customers by 600, 000 Kenyans every year.
“The government has rolled out countrywide measures to make sure that all parts of the country are connected to electricity and we are supporting this programme,” he said.
The CEO also noted that electricity demand during the peak season stood at 1, 882mw an indication that there was need to increase power production.
Othieno who was addressing the press at Lake Naivasha Resort admitted that in the last couple of months they had a challenge with the token system which had affected their customers as a result of delays.
He however, said that the company was harmonizing their tariffs which had seen customers placed in two groups depending on their electricity consumption in addition to token system being consolidated with the issue of delay being sorted by the service provider Safaricom.
Othieno admitted that there was a variation on the amount of units customers got for the same amount of money every month due to changes in fuel cost and user category.
He however, advised that there was a new App that a customer could use to know his electricity consumption in addition to robust customer service keen to address all pending issue of tokens.
The company’s acting General Manager Business Strategy, Eng. Thagichu Kiiru said that fuel cost, foreign exchange and VAT rates determined the cost of electricity every month.
He said that the cost of electricity usually rose during dry periods hence the variation in the number of units received by customers buying tokens.
By Esther Mwangi/Mary Gathoni
