Kenya Power and Lightning Company (KPLC) decrying losses incurred within its delivery of services to its consumers in terms of purchasing tokens has moved to respond by bringing the services to its in-house.
A decision it says was inspired after realizing huge commissions paid to vendors who only processed less than 10% of its total electricity bill payments.
Kenya Power has been working with 10 electricity token vending companies including PDSL, Cevens, Lexco One, Wawai, and Anchor. Others are Korandu, African Vending Systems, Adtel, Radix, Dynamo Digital, and Digital Leo.
However, with the new development, KPLC is focused on cutting down the company’s revenue losses as it seeks to also increase revenue earned by selling power to neighboring countries.
Kenya Power is banking on its internal payment channels to dispense tokens to its customers to curb fraud and defend revenues given that banks and other third parties earned commissions for the purchases under the previous contracts.
A move that is set to see a reduction of fraud claims as the company was a victim of an investigation over suspected fraud in its electricity token generation.
Evident in 2019, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations commenced investigations on top managers at Kenya Power Company over a suspected Sh35.28 million token scandal.
Based on a report tabled by the Energy committee of the Senate, the scandal was linked to an irregular generation and sale of tokens to customers between January 2018 and February 2019.
Kenya’s main powerhouse went on opening an Sh340 million live line laboratory where it will test equipment including trucks, insulating blankets, link sticks, and a line hose tester.
Through the live line maintenance, there will be undertaking of repairs without having to switch off customers in some zones as they aim at reliable electricity supply.
“The laboratory is key to cutting the company’s revenue losses from planned and unscheduled outages and diversifying its income through selling services to neighboring countries,” said Kenya Power acting managing director Geoffrey Muli.
