Kenya Power customers in rural areas using postpaid meters will be required to migrate to the prepaid option in the next three years as part of reforms to reduce power theft and meter reading costs.
The company will also stop connecting rural customers with postpaid meters, even as it seeks to transition to smart meters.
“All rural customers will be on the prepaid metering system and will be transitioned to smart metering in the long-term,” says the utility in its latest annual report.
“Further, existing postpaid meters in the rural areas will be retrofitted to prepaid meters over the next three years,” it added.
Kenya Power has about 2.1 million customers on postpaid billing while 6.8 million are on prepaid billing.
The utility earned Sh120.18 billion or 63 percent of its revenues from postpaid customers and just 37 percent from prepaid customers, underlining the fact that most postpaid customers are large power consumers.
The company made a net loss of Sh3.19 billion in the year to June 2023 but has identified reforms in its metering system as part of measures that can not only raise revenue collection but also seal revenue leakages.
“The electricity meter is the cash register and thus a critical component to the success of our business,” it said.
The shift to prepaid meters enables the company to collect revenue upfront, coming at a time when it is facing a rapid rise in electricity defaults primarily from postpaid customers who are struggling with increasing prices while some have taken years before their meters are read.
Kenya Power employs thousands of meter readers who visit homes and businesses to record power consumption monthly.
But because the meter readers are not enough to cover all the customers, the utility is forced to estimate the monthly consumption of millions of customers, which has led to major complaints of inflated bills.
With prepaid meters, the utility is aiming to not only reduce power defaults but also lower the cost of retaining meter readers.
Kenya Power recently commissioned an advanced Meter Data Management System that it says has improved its monitoring and analytic capabilities.
“The system has helped enforce the restriction of unauthorised movement of meters and address the inability to track these movements using traditional manual methods,” it said.
The metering plan includes smart metering of all large power customers by December 2024, metering domestic and SME customers consuming above 200 units on Advanced Metering Infrastructure within the next three years.
It also includes having all new connections under these categories on smart meters.
