Kenya Power puts electricity bill defaulters on notice as arrears rise

Utility firm Kenya Power has put electricity bill defaulters on notice as arrears from its post-paid customers mount.

In a notice published in the local dailies on Thursday, the company said it will move to disconnect connections to customers with outstanding arrears as it seeks to collect outstanding revenues from electricity sales.

“Customers who will not have paid their outstanding bills by the date when the bill is due will have their supply of electricity disconnected immediately. The customer will thereafter be required to pay the requisite re-connection fees for their accounts to be reinstated,” Kenya Power said in part.

According to the company’s annual report covering the year to June 2019, expected flows from outstanding electricity arrears (electricity receivables) stood at Ksh.23.6 billion from Ksh.22.2 billion in June 2018 indicating a steady rise in the arrears.

From the pool of receivables, the company elected to impair Ksh.12.3 billion from Ksh.9.7 billion indicating heightened concerns and risks for the non-recovery of bills.

The bulk of arrears at Ksh.11.4 billion represented bills that have gone unpaid for more than three months.

According to the utility firm, payment is enforced by way of disconnection if bills are not settled within 21 days of billing.

The company nevertheless has procedures to on remedial action to disconnection including negotiations on mutually acceptable payment arrangements.

Despite the steady rise in un-remitted bills, the company views the concentration risks of the receivables as low with customers falling in different regions across the country and diverse consumption categories.

Kenya Power states that it continues to install pre-paid and automatic meters as strategies to minimize the risk of non-collection.

The firm further deploys disconnections, requests for higher security deposits and uses debt collectors to cover itself from bill defaulters.

Outstanding bills from electricity sales at the end of June 2019 represents about 17.7 per cent of revenues from customers across the same period.