Alarm as Cash-Strapped Kenya Power Hides Token Charges amid Fraud Fears

In what may reminiscent of past scams stalking the generation of pre-paid power tokens, billing and involvement of third party merchants, the power distribution firm is no longer providing a detailed breakdown for what you pay for.

In effect, pre-paid customers will not be able to interrogate what they pay for, the statutory levies charged and whether they get token units equivalent for the amount paid.

In a complete departure from the norm, the Managing Director Bernard Ngugi led institution will only avail minimal details of what you pay for; the cost and units purchased.

Effectively, consumers will remain in the dark and will not be able to establish if the costing on their bills matches the unit prices for various items like tax, regulatory levies and other surcharges with data published monthly in the Kenya Gazette by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra).

Previously, Kenya Power provided details on payment of value-added tax, Epra levy, inflation adjustment, water regulator fees as well as foreign exchange and fuel adjustment surcharges.

So far, the management has not offered any public explanation for resort to more opaque accountability system at a time the institution is under pressure to rake in more revenue to forestall looming collapse.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been investigating cases of internal and external collusion involving Kenya Power employees and unscrupulous middle men in generating ‘genuine’ tokens by hacking into the system.

Also, as Kenya Power is battling huge fraud claims, including an ongoing investigation on how nearly 5,000 customers on the post-paid plan had their power bills reduced leading to the loss of millions of shillings, a dark cloud still hangs on the weak internal and manupulable systems abetting revenue leakages.

The DCI is questioning customers – who range from individuals to bosses of blue-chip companies – who are suspected to have colluded with Kenya Power staff to lower their bills.