•Kenyans should expect lower tariffs before Christmas as part of the reforms the ministry is currently engaged in to normalize the situation.
•The ministry has summoned all KPLC regional managers to help in among others mapping out illegal connections in their areas.
The government has vowed to have heads roll at the troubled Kenya Power even as it admits yearly losses amounting to Sh50 billion at the agency.
Energy Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa on Monday told MPs of an imminent purge in the management of the Kenya Power over what he termed as shocking revelation of a multimillion-shilling mess.
The PS said the ministry is going through the task force report and will soon announce measures it will undertake to streamline the sector which he noted has been infiltrated by powerful cartels.
“The CS just arrived in the country and we have been going through the report in the last one week,” the PS said.
“Some heads will have to roll whether they like it or not. The company is losing between Sh45 to 50 billion a year in system leakages.”
The PS however said Kenyans should expect lower tariffs before Christmas as part of the reforms the ministry is currently engaged in to normalize the situation.
Before Christmas, the tariff should come down.
The timeline is in line with the recommendations of the Presidential taskforce on the review of Power Purchase Agreements that promised to cut power costs by over 33 per cent by December 31.
Kihalangwa spoke when he appeared before National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee to respond to the 2018/19 audit queries.
The PS said there has been no synergy between the state agencies and the power distributor, something he noted could have contributed to the current mess.
He said the ministry is in the process of rolling out smart transformers across the country to eliminate rampant interference of the machines by some Kenya Power employees and other power cartels.
The ministry has summoned all KPLC regional managers to help in among others mapping out illegal connections in their areas.
“There are some counties where people are illegally connected to power. This must stop,” he said.
The PS blamed the current staff for laxity saying most of the employees work for three hours a day occasioning the frequent power outages being experienced in the country.
The MPs demanded the ministry to bring the Presidential taskforce report to the House saying lawmakers need to interrogate the issues raised in the report.
“We can’t struggle to look for a report that is publicly given to the President, while the report is funded by the taxpayers they disappear into the thin air,” PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi said.
The report presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 29 also called for the renegotiation of contracts between Kenya Power and Independent Power Producers and immediate cancellation of unconcluded Power Purchase Agreement negotiations.
Garissa Township MP Aden Duale told the PS to unmask the real owners of the IPPs claiming that is where the rot resides.
He wants the ministry to ascertain the real faces behind the companies and how much they have received as payment.
“In these IPPs is the elephant in the room, you need to find out the real owners and how much they have been paid,” Duale said.
He said there are some IPPs whose contracts cannot be terminated as they are untouchable and who continue to fleece taxpayers money in questionable payments.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris