- Estimated billing is illegal
- High Court bars Kenya Power from recovery arrears
A Kenyan High Court has ruled that state-owned utility, Kenya Power, cannot recover electricity bills without supporting utility bills. The High Court faulted the actions of Kenya Power for backdating electricity bills to recover Sh10.1 billion. Justice James Makau ruled that recovering arrears from customers without the appropriate bill invoice is illegal. The judge further barred Kenya Power from recovering arrears of Sh616,000 from a customer as part of the Sh10.1 billion debt recovery project.
In his ruling, Justice Makau said, ”……the good governance infrastructure in Article 10 of the Constitution would, in my view, prohibit one from back billing for a period of 12 calendar months proceeding, as this would be contrary to the national values, principles of good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability and sustainable development”.
”I find from the admissions of the first respondent that in furnishing the petitioner with estimated bills and not actual metered bills, it acted with illegality, irrationality and impropriety”, he added.
Plaintiff Alan Donovan filed a lawsuit against Kenya Power, claiming the company had tried to recover overestimated electricity arrears from him as part of his residential bill. Donovan stated that Kenya Power had issued erroneous bills from 2008 despite several complaints from him. ”Despite making numerous trips to the first respondent’s offices to inquire about the missing and erroneous bills, the situation did not improve”, Donovan stated.