The Kenya Power and Lighting Company has resolved to seek debt collectors to help recover outstanding bills of Sh5 billion from customers who have been disconnected from the grid.
This is as part of a new strategy aimed at netting defaulters who have never paid the dues even after disconnection while also rooting out electricity thieves using illegal connections to the national grid to deprive the company of revenue.
Debt owed to Kenya Power in unpaid bills amounts to more than Sh20 billion but the Sh5 billion is debt that has accumulated over years.
Kenya Power said in internal documents that the Sh5 billion is owed by customers who cancelled their accounts on request and those whose accounts were terminated for defaulting.
“The Kenya Power requires debt collection services for an outstanding finalised debt of Sh5.2 billion,” said Kenya Power in a tender notice. About Sh2 billion of the debt is owed by Nairobi residents while those at the Coast Region owe Sh845.7 million.
North Eastern Kenya customers owe a total of Sh620.8 million with customers in the Western Kenya owing the monopoly Sh386.9 million while those in South Nyanza have not paid for Sh343.07 million.
With the recent crisis, more than half a million customers, the company said, had failed to pay electricity bills in the three months to June, pushing new defaults by Sh3.9 billion.
The debt collectors will try to lower the debt and help KPLC recovery from profit slump.
Kenyan Business Feed is the top Kenyan Business Blog. We share news from Kenya and across the region. To contact us with any alert, please email us to [email protected]