Ministerial team to audit Kenya Power supply, pricing

Interior and Coordination of National Government secretary Fred Matiang’i. PHOTO | MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

By JAMES ANYANZWA
More by this Author

Summary

• Interior and Coordination of National Government secretary Fred Matiang’i said the electricity supplier has been declared a ‘Special Project’ and that the team will also oversight reforms at the utility firm.
• Dr Matiang’i made the announcement after meeting the firm’s board of directors, senior management team and officials from the Ministry of Energy in Nairobi on Thursday.

An inter-ministerial committee has been formed to run a fresh audit on Kenya Power #ticker:KPLC supply and demand needs, and pricing policies, a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive requiring a 33 percent reduction of electricity tariffs by Christmas.

Interior and Coordination of National Government secretary Fred Matiang’i said the electricity supplier has been declared a ‘Special Project’ and that the team will also oversight reforms at the utility firm.

Its membership will also draw from, among others, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Central Bank’s Financial Reporting Centre, and the Assets Recovery Agency.

“We are going to do a forensic audit of some of our systems and procedures at Kenya Power. We are working jointly at an inter-ministerial level to reduce the system losses including the theft of power. We will address all challenges that result in passing unnecessary costs to the consumers,” he said.

Dr Matiang’i made the announcement after meeting the firm’s board of directors, senior management team and officials from the Ministry of Energy in Nairobi on Thursday.

“We are all concerned about the cost of power. Our bills are too high and we have taken tough decisions to deal with challenges in this sector with the focus being the bringing down of the cost of power,” he said.

Last week, the State House released a statement announcing the handing in of the report of a taskforce appointed to review power purchase agreements, which promised that the lower tariff will be implemented before the end of December.

The 33 percent cut in electricity prices is expected to bring the average cost of a kilowatt-hour (kWh) to Sh16 from the current Sh24 unit.

President Kenyatta also ordered the cancellation of all ongoing and incomplete power purchase agreements being negotiated with the State distributor.

On the same day, the head of State replaced Charles Keter with Monica Juma as Cabinet Secretary for Energy. Dr Juma has been in charge of the Defence docket.

President Kenyatta set up the taskforce to review the power purchase agreements in March following widespread concerns about high electricity bills.

Dr Matiang’i said Thursday that the government has frozen all pending and ongoing contracts with independent power producers as the utility firm reviews the existing agreements to lower the cost of electricity.

The State aims to attract foreign direct investments and promote industrial growth, which has been hampered by the high cost of power.