The perennial loss-making utility firm, Kenya Power has finally reined on the intricate token vending cartels by ending intermediary involvement in token purchases.
Effectively, purchase of power tokens will now be limited to the Mpesa paybill 888880 while for those wishing to pay for their post-paid bills can do so through Mpesa paybill number 888888.
Customers can also make payments through or purchase tokens via USSD code *977#.
Kenya Power has presently authorised 13 institutions, including Equity, KCB, and Co-operative Bank, to provide postpaid bill collection services. Banks that previously provided prepaid token services have already begun to transition to the new guideline.
“Effective 1/9/2022, you will not be able to purchase KPLC prepaid tokens on KCB mobile banking and Vooma. We are working to resolve this issue with KPLC and apologise for the inconvenience caused,” KCB said in a message to customers.
Some rogue Kenya Power staff had allegedly set up a pre-paid token selling syndicate, allowing some users to obtain tokens for more than ten times their face value.
An inquiry uncovered a new token scandal at the cash-strapped utility provider, raising concerns that Kenya Power could be losing millions every week due to an elaborate web in which buyers received more than their fair share of power tokens.
It was discovered that employees at the electricity distributor tampered with the system in order to generate payment codes for illegal buyers who received more units than usual.
The contracted vendors are believed to have handled approximately 10 per cent of the tokens sold, while the utility company handles the remaining capacity.
Kenya Power will now have complete control over the sale of tokens, which has previously been the target of fraudulent agreements resulting in income leakage.