Kenya Power Set To Meter All Transformers In The Country

By Nsunjo Erica

Following the increased losses being incurred by the company, Kenya Power is now set to meter all its transformers across the country to curb the rising theft of electricity that is costing the company billions.

“We want to meter all transformers. This will help us narrow down to where these losses are occurring. We are starting with Nairobi since it is the biggest revenue basket,” Managing Director Benard Ngugi said on Friday.

The announcement comes a day after the firm toured Nairobi’s Donholm area and cracking down illegal power connections. The firm said it had sacked 110 employees in the last year for aiding illegal connections.

The Power Company said that they plan to start from Nairobi where the bulk of Kenya power customers are based and where there have been massive losses from illegal connections.

Kenya Power says that the country has over 70,000 transformers and that each meter is likely to cost about KShs70, 000 given the estimate that Nairobi’s 10,000 transformers will be metered at approximately KSh700 million.

The aim of implementing these metered transformers is to reveal those benefiting from stolen electricity. Kenya Power has incurred losses of about to 23 percent, way above the allowable level of 14.9 percent.

According to Kenya Power, this continued lack of metered transformers has made it hard for the company to easily identify areas where losses are coming from.

Mr. Ngugi said Nairobi is the most affected, based on initial findings from previous crackdowns on areas such as Tassia, Embakasi, and Makongeni.

“We want to change the structure of operations and make counties profit contras. Each county will be headed by county business manager fully empowered to run the county like a CEO,” said Mr. Ngugi.

Kenya Power also said that the company’s system losses are comprised of both technical and commercial components.

Technical losses occur when electrical energy is dissipated in the process of transmission and distribution. Commercial losses are mainly attributed to pilferages, faulty meters, and meter tampering.