- The National Assembly Energy Committee is developing a bill to ensure more licensed and authorised entities sell electricity meters.
- Some of the issues flagged in the report are 21,000 consumers waiting for KPLC to connect them to the grid but haven’t succeeded due to the shortage of meters.
In the move to end the Kenya Power monopoly, members of parliament are planning to give Kenyans the flexibility to connect to power without buying electricity meters from utility firms. The National Assembly Energy committee said it is developing a Bill to ensure more licensed and authorised entities sell electricity meters, ensuring consumers do not depend on KPLC for the product.
The committee chairman, Vincent Musyoka, disclosed this during a meeting with the management of Kenya Power to discuss several queries raised by the Auditor-General for the financial year ending June 2022/2023. Among the issues flagged in the report are 21,000 consumers waiting for KPLC to connect them to the grid but haven’t succeeded due to the shortage of meters.
To cure such a problem, the committee says it will remove all barriers that deter other firms from selling the meters directly to Kenyans. The lawmakers say Kenya Power should not be the only authorised dealer for the meters. However, Kenya Power must code the meters other dealers will sell, which monopoly engineers must certify before installation.
“We will have shops across the country selling meters to Kenyans, so that you just walk into a shop, buy the meters and call an authorised Kenya Power engineer to connect the electricity for you without necessarily going to Kenya Power offices,” Mr Musyoka said.
“This will increase Kenya Power revenues as they will have more people to collect power from and reduce the time Kenyans have to wait to have electricity. For instance, we are now dealing with people who have waited for power for 11 years, yet they have already paid,” the chairman said.
“We are working on a bill as a committee, and it will soon be introduced to the House. It will contain all these changes,” Mr Musyoka said. The committee dismissed assertions by Kenya Power that the shortage of meters is causing connection delays.