Kenya’s electricity distributor; Kenya Power and Lighting Company has reportedly racked up considerable debt. According to Kenyan Wallstreet, as at the period that ended in June 2020 the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), owes a staggering 47.85 billion Kenyan Shillings to a number of its power providers.
The 47.85 billion Kenyan Shillings sum includes 4.67 billion Kenyan Shillings owed to the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO), 19.48 billion Kenyan Shillings owed to electricity providers who are independent, and 23.7 billion Kenyan Shillings owed to Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen).
The Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) issued a penalty to Kenya Power of 1 billion Kenyan Shillings in 2018 as late payment interest after it failed to pay its debt with the sixty (60) day period that was agreed upon as the grace period where interests would not be incurred.
At the time Kenya Power owed a total of 13.71 billion Kenyan Shillings to KenGen, with an additional 694.63 million Kenyan Shillings that had not been paid for over a year.
Earlier in the year, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) announces that plans were on the way to raise the prices for electricity by as much as 20 percent. It added that it was already communicating with the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) with regards to the planned increment.
If the new electricity prices are implemented, it would mean that the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) will charge all users who use less than 100kWh units per month a fee of 12.5 Kenyan Shillings per unit as opposed to the current rate of 10 Kenyan Shillings per unit.
Users who utilize more than 100kWh units per month, will be charged 19.53 Kenyan Shillings per unit as opposed to the current rate of 15.80 Kenyan Shillings.
According to the Energy ministry the increased electricity prices will help the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) properly cater for the cost incurred in the purchasing of wholesale electricity from suppliers (which increased by 18 billion Kenyan Shillings in 2019), as well as the maintenance of the Kenyan national grid.
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