Electricity distributor, Kenya Power, is looking to cut its wages and reduce unpaid bills by rolling out 520,000 prepaid meters over the next nine months.
The company plans to spend $69 million in the roll out, after its successful pilot project that resulted in the installation of 174,810 prepaid meters since 2009.
The firm says it will install the prepaid meters in homes and business premises in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and their neighbouring areas.
The power distributor plans to connect all targeted post-paid customers with the prepaid meters by 2015.
“Prepaid metering eliminates bad debts because consumers pay upfront for power,” said Kenya Power, chief executive Joseph Njoroge.
Kenya Power has been hit by massive losses in unpaid bills, with the firm recording $88 million in unpaid bills in the financial year ending June 2011.
Kenya Power plans therefore to use a model perfected by mobile operators of having consumers pay for services before use.
The firm said it intends to hire 100 vendors to act as agents and be its wholesalers across the country. Kenya Power has already commissioned 10 third party retail vendors selling tokens for the prepaid meters.
The use of prepaid meters is also expected to improve efficiency by reducing the long queues in banking halls when customers go to make payments.
Njoroge said the firm plans to pilot a system of loading prepaid meters with credit from the vending machine direct to the meter without the customer’s intervention.
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