Kenya Power mulls 75,000 smart meters for SMEs
By Herald Aloo, July 7, 2022
Kenya Power will install 75,000 smart meters for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the current fiscal year after it received the nod for a Sh2 billion tender last month.
The move will bring the cumulative installed smart meters for SMEs to 142,000 after completion of the first phase as the utility intensifies fitting smart metering to seal revenue leaks and improve business efficiency.
“We are therefore planning to install an additional 75,000 smart meters for SME accounts in this Financial Year,” said Kenya Power Acting manager Geoffrey Muli during the manufacturers, technology and innovation expo running until 8th July.
Local startups to gain
The Expo brings together various power systems and energy solutions providers, policymakers, sector stakeholders, financiers, and other interest groups to benchmark on technological solutions for enhancing customer experience, reducing power costs, and tapping emerging trends.
About 37 organizations, including local startups and innovators are participating in the expo.
Smart metering gives Kenya Power the ability to remotely switch off defaulting customers and do reconnection fast in the event of outages through automated surveillance technology.
SMEs and industrial consumers contribute the biggest chunk of the utility’s revenue less in numbers compared to domestic consumers.
In the first phase, Kenya Power installed 7,000 smart meters for large power customers and 67,000 for SMEs. This has seen the power distributor register an 8 per cent growth in sales while cutting debt age from 34 days to 27 days.
Over the past two month, Kenya Power has been in a meter tender war that saw a consortium of local companies plan to drag the utility to court over the Sh2 billion meter tender.
This was after the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB), on two occasions, dismissed the alleged skewed tender processes.