Kenya Power Refutes Bill Inflation Claims
As per the viewpoint of Kega’s group, the party leadership removed Kioni and the former deputy chairperson David Murathe from their positions.
The reported inflation was initially brought to light by the Business Daily newspaper on Monday. This was about findings from the Auditor General’s investigation into the nation’s electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, as stated in a forensic report.
The report states that the power company has been billing customers excessively, by as much as 20%, for electricity they haven’t actually consumed. These additional fees are not detectable within their billing infrastructure.
In a Tuesday announcement, Kenya Power refuted the accusations and characterized the newspaper’s article as deceptive and lacking in accuracy.
The corporation stated that it calculates all of its electric charges by considering the amount of energy customers have used, which is determined by the variance between the current meter reading and the reading from the previous month.
“The approved base tariffs, levies, and taxes are then applied to the consumption to compute the customer’s monthly bill,” said the utility.
The report expressed worry about incorrect estimation of system losses due to reliance on outdated research documents, incomplete simulations, and mathematical mistakes. In response, Kenya Power stated that certain power system losses were accounted for in the tariff calculations.
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“Part of power system losses are inevitable during transmission and distribution of power; therefore, the regulator sets a threshold for the allowable system losses that is factored in the tariff,” said the company.
KPLC announced that the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has granted permission for system losses of up to a maximum of 18.5% during this fiscal year. Additionally, KPLC stated that it covers the expenses associated with system losses that exceed the established limit.
“Each month, the regulator checks and verifies that Kenya Power charges customers based on the approved rates,” the company said.
The report also alleged that Kenya Power experienced a 23.98 percent reduction in system efficiency during the period of 2020/2021, exceeding the authorized loss rate of 19 percent. Similarly, in 2021/2022, the system efficiency decline was 22.44 percent, surpassing the approved efficiency loss target of 19 percent.
Additionally, the utility refuted accusations that out of the 96 power generation plants that provide it with electricity, only 38 had supplementary meters, which are also referred to as verification meters.
It asserted that it possesses a hundred delivery locations sourced from fifty-eight electricity providers it purchases power from. All of these suppliers have been confirmed to possess both primary and secondary meters.
Kenya Power Refutes Bill Inflation Claims