Complaints against Kenya Power expose a growing national customer service crisis

A complaint letter from area residents in Karati, Naivasha, written by the residents, has cast a spotlight on Kenya Power's customer responsiveness. This is as locals protested persistent blackouts this week and the utility's local office faced accusations of deflecting blame rather than addressing service failures.

And the complaints have been growing. Nairobi city and its suburbs have also faced frequent power outages, leaving locals furious and businesses counting losses.

The letter, dated November 3 and seen by The Sunday Standard, describes weekly power cuts near Asante Children's Home in Nyondia Centre, Karati, Naivasha, with outages at night lasting until midday the following day.

"We sleep in darkness," the letter states, adding that repeated calls to the Naivasha emergency line and complaints to local and regional offices had yielded no lasting remedy.

The complaint surfaced days before a section of residents were arrested on November 10 after storming Kenya Power's Naivasha offices to protest daily blackouts lasting up to six hours and what they described as unexplained bills.

Naivasha, home to the Olkaria geothermal power stations, has suffered from an ageing distribution network unable to cope with rapid population growth, according to Kenya Power officials.

Kenya Power's public response to the Naivasha unrest focused on a single billing dispute, saying a customer had been found drawing electricity through a punctured cable and had not met agreed payment terms.

The utility firm did not address the broader complaints about outages and non-responsiveness that prompted the protests.

Critics, including the protesting residents, say this reflects a defensive posture rather than a service-recovery strategy.

The Naivasha office has often been on the spot for non-responsiveness.

A separate complaint seen by The Sunday Standard echoes the Karati residents' account, describing repeated reports of outages that go unresolved for days.

In Ruaka, a Nairobi suburb, traders alleged in media interviews this week that Kenya Power staff demanded payment before responding to a week-long outage, with an automated response acknowledging a logged complaint "remains pending."

Kenya Power's own Customer Service Charter commits to acknowledging written complaints within two days of receipt and resolving them within three days.

The utility's complaint policy states that customers should receive either a conclusive response or a reference number for follow-up within stipulated timelines.

The letter from the area residents lists multiple unanswered complaints to the local office, the maintenance boss and the Nakuru regional office, which the residents say falls short of these commitments.

The gap between promise and practice is not isolated to Naivasha.

 Kenya Power's Customer Satisfaction Index stood at 72 per cent in its most recent reporting, up from 69 per cent, according to the utility's own financial statements.

The utility reported a profit after tax of Sh24.99 billion for the 2025/26 financial year, driven by higher electricity sales, even as customer arrears continued to build and provisions for expected credit losses weighed on operating expenses.

Kenya Power has previously said it takes every customer complaint seriously and urged customers to use official channels, including the 97771 hotline and the *977# USSD code.

It has not announced specific new measures to improve responsiveness in Naivasha or elsewhere.

The utility's non-responsiveness is accelerating a quiet defection, a spot check shows.

Businesses and households in Naivasha and Gilgil and across the country are increasingly installing commercial and residential solar systems to protect themselves from outages that local installers describe as routine in Naivasha town, Gilgil, Longonot and Elementaita.

One Naivasha businessman told The Sunday Standard he installed his own solar plant after a seven-month disconnection over a disputed bill.

State-owned KenGen is planning a solar manufacturing plant in Olkaria, Naivasha, explicitly to tap growing demand from consumers "shifting away from the national grid."

Energy regulator data shows captive solar capacity reached 271.3 MW as of December 2024, part of a broader captive power segment that accounts for 15.04 per cent of the country's total installed capacity.

The numbers point to a structural problem for Kenya Power. While it added 411,710 new customers in the last financial year, reaching over 10 million connections, its distribution efficiency remains at 81.42 per cent, well below global utility benchmarks.

System losses stood at 22.03 per cent of energy bought in the half-year to December 2025, meaning more than a fifth of purchased power never reached paying customers.

For the area residents of Karati and the children at Asante Children's Home, the calculus is simpler. "We have waited long enough," their letter concludes. Kenya Power has not publicly responded to the specific complaint.