Untangling KPLC: Where The Whole Darkness Started

By Kimari Kimari

My earliest memory of a power outage, courtesy of Kenya Power, goes way back. I was born and raised inside a girl’s high school (you can read about it in my book). Consequently, whenever power came back on, we would instantly be informed by the cheers from the girls.

I also recall in the early 90’s the blackouts underwent conversion into power rationing. Many businesses and institutions began investing in diesel-powered generators. During this period, the cheers, from the girls, became less frequent.

In the late 90s, just before an Africa Cup of Nations thriller on a slow Saturday afternoon, the lights went out. This pattern (lights going out at the least opportune moment) has persisted to this day. This might just be a coincidence but it’s hard to miss an unpredictable pattern. I write not to rant but to offer a lasting solution to this chronic malady.

It happened that after the power dramas of the early 1990s, the Breton Woods institutions intervened and decided to break up KPLC whilst introducing Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Before this untangling, Kenya Power was a behemoth of an institution that did everything from managing power generation to transmission, distribution, and installation. For a young country that was still grappling with ignorance, disease, and hunger, no one cared who did what as far as power was concerned. However, as Kenya underwent both political and economic transformation and private enterprise began to gallop faster than government, technocrats went to work.

Read Also: KPLC Wants You To Start Cooking Using Electricity ASAP

Untangling brought about some semblance of order in the power and energy sector. KenGen (Kenya Electricity Generating Company), formerly known as Kenya Power Corporation (KPC), which had been managed by KPLC since its creation in 1954 gained autonomy from KPLC in 1997. Following the political transition of 2002, KenGen went public. Since then, it has largely remained profitable. As if in a trance of sibling rivalry, KPLC also started churning profits in their billions. In the years 2007 and 2008, several other entities were also hived off KPLC. Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO), responsible for power transmission, REA (now REREC) which was to handle rural electrification, and Geothermal Development Company (GDC). These, however, never went public.

Expectedly, this splitting of KPLC into more focused commercial and operational units was met with cheers akin to the ones that my female neighbors used to make. In business modeling, the term used to describe this process is ‘unbundling of the business model’. The proponents of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) argue that there are three general business types. These are; a product or innovation business (think Coca-Cola and Samsung), an infrastructure business (think petrol stations, fiber infrastructure), and finally, a customer relationship business (think Safaricom, Showmax).

When KPLC was being split into different entities, this is what was at play. One unit would focus on power generation (product), another one on transmission (infrastructure), and the last one on distribution and installation. It is with this last entity, where the problem lies. In my opinion, there should be another entity whose sole purpose would be to bill and offer customer support (customer relationship). Perhaps that is the reason why KPLC has been limping lately, best illustrated by the inconceivable losses they have been reporting. This limping has been met, not with less frequent cheers, but with riotous jeers. In 2011, the year KPLC rebranded to Kenya Power in an ostentatious media campaign, they were engaging in a futile communication exercise. This is because the entity that is to endear itself to consumers does not yet exist.

Take Safaricom for instance. After spending years building a gigantic institution, similar in many ways to KPLC, they eventually outsourced the telecommunications infrastructure business to an independent entity; similarly, they have always done the same with sim cards, airtime, and Mpesa distribution via dealers and agents. The only function they have retained control over, to a large extent, is the customer relationship. Though only twenty years old and partly owned by the government, Safaricom remains the most profitable company in the region. Therefore, KPLC should watch and learn by unbundling the power distribution and installation function from that of the customer relationship.

Consequently, instead of calling the guy who installed your power to address power consumption challenges (the same way you don’t call the lady who sold you a sim card to sort out your airtime issues), you would be able to reach a friendly customer care representative. Hopefully, instead of asking for your meter number before addressing your query, this customer care rep. would swiftly address your complaint, possibly because they would have linked your cell phone number to your meter number. Lastly, instead of the CS for energy laboring to explain the cause of the national power outage, a communication officer from this new entity would be doing the heavy lifting on behalf of the executive. If this is done, maybe the deafening jeers from consumers might just turn into cheers.

Read Also: Kenyans Frustrated Following Massive Delays In Token Remittance At KPLC

Kimari Kimari is a public speaker, corporate trainer, and marketing consultant. He is also the author of Slaves, Priests & Kings.

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