Letters

Fix bills by ending Kenya Power monopoly

POWER

The July electricity bills are here with us and to the surprise of many consumers, the bills have even gone up by the widest margin ever experienced before. FILE PHOTO | NMG

In the last few weeks the Kenyan consumers of electricity have been treated to a lot of drama. First came the promise from the senior managers of Kenya Power that the illegal overcharging had been sorted out, and that with effect from July 1, all Kenyans will see reduced electricity bills. This promise came as a big relief to the many Kenyans who, for the past months have had to endure paying high electricity bills that do not match with units that they use. Long queues of complaints at the Electricity House have not helped much as the staff there appear not to have any justification for the huge bills.

Notwithstanding the fact that most of the consumers do not have stable supply of electricity due to continued blackout thanks to the faulty transformers which so millions of taxpayers money go to waste.

The July electricity bills are here with us and to the surprise of many consumers, the bills have even gone up by the widest margin ever experienced before. And in a country that does not have any watchdog of consumers' rights - never mind about organisations like Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) - many Kenyans will have no options but to look for soft loans to settle the huge bills.

Top officials of the energy ministry, and leaders of agencies like Electricity Regulatory Commission and Kenya Power had in May appeared before energy committees of both the Senate and National Assembly. They officials promised to bring down the cost of power significantly in July.

July has finally come and gone, leaving in its wake high electricity bills. But sadly, the parliamentary committees which were promised lower July bills have not spoken any word on the new development.

Kenya Power has reached a level where the only remedy is for Parliament to move fast and end its monopoly by passing the Energy Bill. It is only when the proposed law is enacted and implement that Kenyans could have a choice from which firm to buy electricity. Stable energy is one of the basic need for economic development. Many of the success stories that we read about on industrial revolution of light industries in the Asian Tigers revolved around supply of stable and affordable energy. The government's Big Four Agenda, especially manufacturing cannot take off without stable management and affordable supply of power. For Kenya to move ahead and even create employment in both formal and informal sectors, the country will require an efficient management of power supply which Kenya Power has failed to, and will not be able to provide in the nearby future. That is why we need new players in the market. No any serious industrialist will be willing to invest in a country like Kenya where the cost of power alone accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total cost of doing business. Otherwise with the current energy supply structure where the Kenya Power enjoys its monopoly, even the Big Four Agenda might just remain a pipe dream.

Lumidi Mwangani, Nairobi resident