The Energy and Petroleum Tribunal has cancelled a Ksh 518,099 electricity bill issued to Derek Seton by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC). The Tribunal found out that the bill was caused by KPLC staff negligence and mistakes.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) had issued an earlier decision long after the 60-day legal limit under the Energy Act, 2019, making it invalid.
Derek Seton Vs KPLC
Derek Seton suffered eleven months of excessive and erroneous billing, despite repeatedly alerting KPLC to the faulty meter on his account No. 2317945.
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In a letter dated March 13, 2023, Derek stated that:
- He had not received invoices for 3 years.
- The billing statement recorded erroneous payments.
- He was not being apprised of his bills, and his requests for the same were met with deaf ears.
- For a period of three years, the Respondent failed to act on the meter reading issue until 24/03/2023, when the Respondent sent a supervisor to check the meter. Upon doing so, the Respondent threatened the Appellant with disconnection.
- He insisted that the meter be rectified to capture the correct bills.
- He insisted that the Respondent annuls the credit balance of KES 56,090; and
- He pleaded that the correct billing be done and divided into reasonable amounts for onward settlement.
After KPLC ignored his complaints, Seton engaged Wamae and Allen Advocates, who formally demanded that the company rectify the billing anomalies. KPLC then issued a disputed bill for Ksh 518,099 on April 26, 2023.
Tribunal Findings and Final Orders
The Energy Tribunal found that the problem was not with the meters or billing system but with KPLC staff, who demonstrated indolence and incompetence.
Also Read: EXPOSED: KPLC Paid Employees Peanuts as Kenyans Face High Power Cost
The anomalies noted were meter readings suddenly dropping from five-digit numbers to lower figures and irregular billing for 63 months, primarily on water-heating consumption.
Be that as it may, in the Billing Statement printed from the Respondent’s system on 11th May 2023, there are many readings with five digits from 10126, 10394, 10448, 10539, 10533, 10548, 10558, before dropping to 558 then raising suddenly to 7262, which leads to the first bill to be disputed by the Appellant in the sum of KES 132,819/- on 24th March 2023, read the part of the statement.
The Tribunal declared the KSh 518,099 bill illegitimate and ordered that Seton not pay the disputed amount.
It also ruled that KPLC must replace post-paid meters with prepaid meters at its own cost and awarded Derek costs.
Also, EPRA’s earlier November 6, 2024, determination was ruled null and void because it was delivered 253 days after the dispute was lodged, exceeding the 60-day statutory deadline.
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