KPLC Is Looking For a Technology Company To Help In Their Losses

By Natasha Nthenya

Kenya Power (KPLC)  makes a loss of almost 4 billion shillings annually. This is due to power thefts and poor power collection mechanisms.

The almost 4 billion loss costs the company billions of shillings debts borrowed to make up for the losses. In the year 2020, Kenya Power reported a loss of 939 million shillings which was the highest loss they had made in two decades.

The company also spends more than 66 percent of the revenue they make to purchase power from independent companies.

KPLC purchase power at about 7 shillings per kilowatts hour (kWh) from KenGen the largest energy producer in Kenya, which produces 65 percent of power to the country.

Kenya Independent Power Producers (IPPs) sell power to KPLC at about 10 shillings per kilowatts hour while the thermal company sells at about 20 shillings per kilowatts hour.

Right now, Kenya Power is looking for an innovative technology company that will design systems that will help it recover back to its solid-state.

Through the partnership with the technology firm, Kenya power is looking forward to streamlining its revenue collection and power distribution system areas.

In a notice inviting the technology companies interested in the contract, Kenya Power gave the qualifications of the technology company they are looking for and what they intend to get from the company.

“The company now intends to develop and implement various innovative technologies and solutions on a pilot turnkey basis in conjunction with an innovative technology partner. The technologies and solutions will address the various challenges currently being experienced within commercial services, network management, customer services, and customer payments.”  said the notice.

The company says it has been experiencing macro-economic environment and internal business processes challenges among them, the high rise in losses the system made in June 2021 which was a 24 percent loss.

“The combination of these pressures requires the company to adopt business innovation to better position itself to serve its customers, cut costs and substantially grow its revenue in order to remain competitive in this fast-growing and changing energy market,” said Kenya Power.