Two activists have want the court to compel the competition authority to break up the Kenya Power to end its dominance as required by law.
In a petition filed yesterday, Okiya Omtatah and Eunice Ng’ang’a ask the court to order the Energy Regulatory Commission to license other companies to distribute electricity everywhere in Kenya without any limitation as to area of coverage as per Section 27 of the Energy Act. They also want the court to declare that ERC has failed to license other players to compete with Kenya Power as required of it under Section 27 of the Energy Act. Omtatah and Ng’ang’a have enjoined in the suit KPLC, ERC, Competition Authority of Kenya, Kenya Consumers Protection AdvisoryCommittee and the Attorney General.
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“Unless this honorable court urgently intervenes, there is real danger that the state will continue to overlook the constitutionally guaranteed consumer rights under Article 46 by failing to adhere to the principles set out in Articles 3 (1), 10, 227 (1) and 232 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the respective statutes establishing them,” the petition reads.
The petitioners say KPLC is a monopoly, which exclusively transmits, distributes and retails electricity tapped from the national transmission grid throughout Kenya to more than 6.8 million customers, making it the only main an electricity monopoly.
Omtatah and Ng’anga’ say the monopoly has so abused its dominance and there is no clear and practical mechanism for new players to enter the market. There are deliberate structural and legal impediments to lock out other players.