Kenyans Owe KPLC Sh27 Billion In Unpaid Electricity Bills

Prior to June, heavy consumers such county governments, ministries, departments and agencies, parastatals, industrial clients, as well as residential users, particularly those with postpaid meters, had not paid the majority of this debt for more than three months.

The debt owned by Kenyans has placed the utility company in a hard financial situation, of the total amount owed; Sh14.3 billion had been unpaid for more than three months, Sh2.11 billion for between 30 and 90 days, and Sh10.7 billion for less than 30 days.

The remaining Sh14.9 billion of the entire outstanding debt has already been written off by Kenya Power, so even though customers paying it will be a pleasant boost to its finances, the business does not anticipate being able to recover that amount.

These figures, however, represent an improvement over the previous fiscal year, when Kenya Power's outstanding consumer debt totaled Sh29.6 billion and the business wrote off Sh15.8 billion.

Unpaid power bills have been a burden for the utility company for decades, but the issue has gotten worse in recent years due to expensive electricity and a rapid increase in living expenses.

This has had an impact on the utility's working capital and caused it to experience liquidity issues, causing the business to rely on overdrafts and business loans to pay its debts.

The National Treasury this year pledged to pressure county governments and other government bodies to pay their electricity bills, in an effort to aid the utility company's rehabilitation after its financial difficulties forced it to rely on state bailouts.