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Kenya Power is on the spot over persistent power outages, un-paid electricity bills and power losses.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has raised concerns that despite the company billing customers, some of them still remain with large unpaid bills and in other cases the company has been impacted by renewable energies due to its unstable supply of power.

In a report tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday, Gathungu revealed that an analysis of postpaid billing data and payments for the year ending June 30, 2023 showed that despite the company billing 729,732 accounts for electricity consumption costing Sh1.8 billion, many consumers had not settled their bills.

In addition, the Auditor noted that the accounts have remained active despite disconnection work orders having been raised against them.

 “In the circumstances, the recoverability of the outstanding bill of Sh1,803,302,369 is in doubt and management has not indicated measures being taken to recover the same,” the report.

Gathungu also notes with concern that although the company spent Sh81.7 million on pre-loaded units that accrued since the 2012 Financial Year, only Sh6.7 million has been settled.

Renewable energy

She noted that despite the prepay records showing that meters are installed, it is likely that the customers do not vend after the pre-loaded units ran out.

Following the move, she said the company is unlikely to recover debt attributed to the preloaded units amounting to Sh74.95 million.  “In the circumstances, the effectiveness of controls in place to monitor meter activities could not be confirmed,” the report.

On the persistent power outages as a result of unstable renewable energy generation, the report notes that the company has been heavily impacted by the variable renewable energy sources (solar and wind) due to their high level of instability or intermittency during the dispatch operations.