Kenya Power has been slapped with a demand for Sh5.13 billion pending bills for wayleave charges in Nairobi amid a standoff between the State utility and the county government.
The county government says that Kenya Power has not paid Sh4.838 billion in wayleave charges between 2016 and 2023 and a further Sh806.4 billion which accrued last year.
A letter seen by Business Daily shows that the Nairobi County government wrote to Kenya Power in December last year, demanding payment for the debt which has accrued from 2016 for the 4,032 kilometres of wayleave accorded to run its power lines.
The push for payment of the wayleave debt, came at a time when the National Treasury revealed that Nairobi County had an electricity bill of Sh3.01 billion as of November last year, making it the biggest defaulter of all counties.
“Based on the Finance Act 2015, kindly note the fees and charges on the wayleaves for the carriageway at Sh150 per metre,” Tiras Njoroge, the County Chief Officer for Revenue Administration says in the letter dated December 6, 2024.
“This is to therefore inform you that you are in arrears of Sh4,838,400,000 for wayleaves for 2016 to 2023 and a current year balance of Sh806,400,000.”
Wayleave refers to a right of way that is granted to an entity in order to lay pipes or poles meant to carry electricity or sewer. The land owner then charges an agreed amount for granting the access.
But the county government’s revelation mirrors past incidents where it has used similar tactics to deter Kenya Power from demanding billions of shillings in unpaid power bills.
Kenya Power received the demand letter from the county on December 6, 2024, just weeks after the revelation of Nairobi County’s Sh3.01 billion unpaid electricity bills.
The disclosures by the National Treasury show that Nairobi County accounted for 68 percent of the Sh4.37 billion that all counties owed Kenya Power for electricity supplied as of the end of November last year.
Nairobi County officials clamped Kenya Power vehicles and dumped garbage outside Stima Plaza on Monday morning, in retaliation following the disconnection of electricity over the bills.
The two entities have over the years locked horns over debts, with Nairobi County notoriously clamping Kenya Power vehicles whenever the utility disconnects power over the bills.
The county government has severally threatened to blockade Stima Plaza – Kenya Power headquarters – with its garbage trucks, in blackmail tactics to ward off Kenya Power in its quest to recover the unpaid bills.
In the past, Kenya Power has been forced to seek court protection after Nairobi County threatened to impound its vehicles. The threats came after the utility switched off the power supply to City Hall— the county headquarters.
Nairobi County is basing its latest wayleave debt demand on Kenya Power on the Finance Ac of 2015 which imposed charges of between Sh150 to Sh200 per metre for any access granted to the electricity distributor to lay its transmission network.
