- The company has rolled out a nationwide campaign to inform its customers about the Token Identifier (TID) project so that no one will be locked out once the deadline hits.
- Marete said that the staff involved in the project will be carrying their identification badges to lock out fraudsters so that customers can identify them as KPLC staff.
The Kenya Power and Lighting Company has warned customers their metres will not be able to accept electricity tokens if they do not upgrade them by November 24.
The company has rolled out a nationwide campaign to inform its customers about the Token Identifier (TID) project so that no one will be locked out once the deadline hits.
Speaking in Mombasa during a media sensitization meeting, KPLC Coast regional manager engineer Phineas Marete said the company is currently carrying out an upgrade of meters.
“We are currently doing media campaigns and road shows to inform our customers about the project. We also plan to get in touch with religious groupings so that the information can be availed to customers,” said Marete.
Marete said that the staff involved in the project will be carrying their identification badges to lock out fraudsters so that customers can identify them as KPLC staff.
“We are working hand in hand with security agencies and the local administration. We shall be moving around with them so that in case there are issues of people masquerading as KPLC staff they are quickly identified and apprehended,” Marete said.
He warned the public that the company has received several cases involving people calling customers telling them that they will be disconnected if they don’t pay them some money.
Others he said were being told that they would be given huge quotations if they failed to part with a certain amount of money.
“All those are criminal activities and our security teams have been up and moving. We have made several arrests involving members of the public”
“Going forward, our message to the customers will be do not pay any monies outside the official KPLC pay points,” he said.
He at the same time addressed the backlog of customers waiting to be connected following a shortage of meters with customers waiting for over seven months to a year to get the meters.
This, he said, was occasioned when the company did not have adequate meters.
He said the matter has since been addressed through a rapid response initiative conducted by the company and customers are now able to get their meters.
All customers who had paid to be connected and get metered will be served within the next three months.
“When we did not have enough meters, we issued a directive of issuing one meter per premises. This one has since been lifted and now we can meter customers as we were doing before,” he said.
“So once you apply and make the requisite payments, we can give you as many meters as you want.”
The company, he said, was also working to mop out illegal power connections constructed by unscrupulous contractors.
He said that the KPLC security team has been moving around the region to ensure the connections are identified.
“Once we get them, we will either ask the customers to pay for them if they are found to be standard. If not standard, then we demolish those structures because they pose a safety concern among members of the public,” he said.