- Kenya Power has given in on the battle with local manufacturers’ oversupply deals for smart meters, a move that will see several local firms rake in millions of shillings from the power distributor.
- The tender comes amid a supply hitch for meters that has forced Kenya Power to delay new connections to millions of customers, ultimately hurting efforts to grow its sales and fueling customer outrage.
Kenya Power has given in on the battle with local manufacturers’ oversupply deals for smart meters, a move that will see several local firms rake in millions of shillings from the power distributor. The State-owned power utility last week issued a tender notice for the supply of smart meters in a deal that will be restricted to an undisclosed number of local manufacturers. Kenya Power has since last year been embroiled in court battles with local manufacturers who had gone to a tribunal and later the High Court to block an Sh2 billion tender for the supply of single-phase, three-phase postpaid and prepaid meters.
In a notice released, the State power distributor said, “Kenya Power & Lighting Company PLC intends to procure the following through Restricted Tender Procurement of Single Phase Prepaid Meters. The tender document shall be published on 08.02.2023 to a limited number of Local manufacturers.” The deal set to lift local firms comes more than seven months after manufacturers protested one of the tender restrictions that required successful bidders to have a minimum of 15 years of technical specifications experience in manufacturing energy meters. The firms argued that the requirement for successful bidders to have 15 years of technical experience was unlawful and discriminatory. Yet, they have invested heavily and have been supplying KPLC since 2015.
The tender comes amid a supply hitch for meters that has forced Kenya Power to delay new connections to millions of customers, ultimately hurting efforts to grow its sales and fueling customer outrage. Kenya Power has been repairing meters to ease the crisis since last year, even as customer complaints mount over the delays. The firm had 9.01 million customers as of December last year from 8.91 million in June, a paltry one per cent rise reflecting how the meter shortage has hurt efforts to grow customers and sales. Kenya Power has not made public the number of customers whose connections have been delayed due to the supply hitches for the meters.