Kenya Power has disconnected electricity supply to more than 20 flats in Nairobi’s Tassia Estate in an operation aimed at stamping out illegal electricity connections.
The crackdown was carried out by a team comprising of the Company’s security personnel, revenue protection unit staff and the police.
It is one of the various security operations going on across the country to curb vandalism, illegal connections and theft of electricity distribution equipment.
“Illegal power connections pose danger not only to the culprits but also to beneficiaries. In collaboration with the police, the Company is carrying out operations to ensure that we eliminate illegal connections, by-passing of meters and theft of our equipment,” said Eng. Aggrey Machasio, Regional Manager, Nairobi South. He added that those who are found culpable will be arrested and charged in court.
Illegal connections are a risk to the Company’s revenue as they provide an avenue for beneficiaries to enjoy unmetered electricity for which the Company cannot collect revenue. In addition, they overload the network thus causing outages and undermining the quality of power supply.
Eng. Machasio urged the public to ensure that all applications for electricity connection and payments are only made at Kenya Power offices across the country.
Because of sustained surveillance on the network through countrywide operations, the Company has been able to significantly reduce the number of vandalized transformers and other materials. In the last financial year, 133 transformers were vandalized compared to 222 in the previous year.
The reduction in the number of vandalized equipment and illegal connections translates into a saving on the capital expenditure and an increase in revenue from sale of electricity. In the last financial year, the Company earned KShs.91 billion from sale of electricity, up from KShs.87 billion the previous year due to growth of the customer base and deployment of various measures to protect revenue.
Today’s operation comes a month after an Eldoret court sentenced two suspects to 10 years imprisonment each after they were found guilty of stealing and vandalising transformers, being in possession of transformer oil and copper windings.
