It would be prudent to end Kenya Power monopoly

Power bills have been rising fast leading to high production costs in the economy. This leads to increased prices of goods and services.

Indeed, many businesses that quit Kenya cite high energy costs as the main cause. Kenya Power argues the Energy Regulatory Authority dictates rates, but it is the power firmfs onus not to profit from State coffers. Why should a parastatal subsidised by the State declare profits for its shareholders yet it charges dearly for its services? Sometime back, it was argued that it wasnft a parastatal yet it continued to access loans with the State acting as guarantor.

The firmfs monopoly it got for historical reasons should be broken and the field opened to other competing power firms in the distribution of electricity.

A good example is the telecommunications sector that was liberalised in late 1990s, from which Kenyans have experienced massive benefits with calling rates coming down considerably. It also eased the way of doing business and lowered Internet costs.

As a way of cutting costs, saving electricity and easing consumption and utility bill payment, the power distribution firm introduced pre-paid meters in 2009.

Unfortunately, they have elicited opposition and complaints. Many meters proved faulty and had to be replaced. And many consumers claim their electricity bill has either doubled or tripled.

Kenya Power earlier pledged the bills would remain the same even after installation of the gadgets. Also, persistent system failure breeds more suspicion than confidence in the gadgets. This curtails the very benefits that accrued from the service.

Satisfaction level

Kenya Powerfs customer satisfaction surveys on the system accuracy and viability findings showed services satisfaction level above 70 per cent with the most recent one by Consumer Options Ltd standing at 77 per cent.

It is ironic for a survey to show such percentage and yet it cites key complaints that emerged like delays in receipt of tokens bought through M-Pesa or Airtel Money, faulty pre-paid meters and overcharge for units.

Though the service has some advantages like not contending with erroneous bills, monitoring and control of usage, and even saves time that would have otherwise been used queuing to pay bills, many find it expensive.

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