The slum electrification programme is supported by World Bank and is tailored to subsidise the cost of electricity connections in informal settlements and other low-income regions.
The programme allows qualifying residents to pay a minimal charge of Sh1,116 per connection.
The World Bank, through
Global Partnership of Output-based Aid (GPOBA),
contributed $225 (Sh19,350 at the time) while Kenya Power contributed Sh11,970 per connection, bringing the total for each one to
Sh32,480.
In addition, Kenya Power has opted to pre-invest in the programme by constructing connection lines as well as installing transformers and other infrastructure.
In the first month, metres that were installed came with 30 ‘free’ units but beeps were eventually heard letting people know they needed to buy more.
There is a separate monthly charge of Sh170.
Overall, this method is more efficient but why is it that when you top up more than once a month, the units tend to reduce each time?
This may be the case if you happen to purchase or consume more than 50 units within the same month.
The initial purchase of tokens in a month comes with the fixed charges and Value Added Tax, so the units one gets are for the amount that remains after these deductions.
If you happen to receive 30 units in your initial purchase, that information is registered and saved with your account or metre number.
In the event you squander your units before the following month, then you may be forced to buy more tokens.
If you buy, say 30 more units, your account will add the previous number of units to your new purchase, elevating your consumption to a new grouping, so
you will be charged a higher rate as if you bought 60 units at once that month.
The fixed charge does not apply here but the tax is mandatory. This means you will end up with less units in your subsequent purchases within the same month if you spend the same amount of money you did at the initial purchase.
The record is reset in the new month and again the deductions start afresh as if you never purchased any units before.
If you have units that run over to the following month and you do not purchase any token for say three months, be ready for a huge debt in the name of accrued fixed charges for the period.
If you are able to consume less than 50 units a month, no matter how many times you purchase tokens, the amount of units you get would be the same since you will be charged using the first step of less than 50 units for each purchase.
The charges depend on the degree of consumption.
The ultimate secret to getting lower electricity bills is watching your units and reducing your consumption rate to less than 50 units per month.
If you rent or move into a room that has not been occupied for months, the landlord asks you to pay the accrued monthly fixed charges before buying any tokens. Tenants who refuse to do this have ended up fixing new metres so prepaid metres remain unused.
But some have charges as high as Sh5,000.
Who will pay them and can't Kenya Power stops these fixed monthly charges on prepaid metres?
Has the world bank loan been paid?
I have never heard Kenya Power declaring a loss, implying the common mwananchi is left suffering and defenseless.
Kenya Power can issue statement with improper explanations so where are the
Consumers Federation Of Kenya (Cofek),
Parliament and the Senate?
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