Electricity consumers in the Coast, Rift Valley and Western provinces are expected to start paying for their power in advance as the Kenya Power and Lighting Company expands its prepaid meters programme out of Nairobi.

This is a departure from the post-paid arrangement where customers use electricity and pay for it later — an arrangement that has been blamed for the massive losses the power distributor suffers in unpaid customer bills and illegal connections rampant in slums.

The programme, which is part of the utility company’s efforts to increase its revenue base and reduce default cases, is targeting customers in Nairobi West, Nairobi North, North Coast, South Coast, Central Rift, North Rift, West Kenya, Mt Kenya North and Mt Kenya South.

Pilot test carried out

Under the project, which follows a pilot test carried out in Nairobi and its environs between April 2009 and February last year at a cost of Sh338 million, the power firm plans to install an estimated 300,000 meters at a cost of Sh2.5 billion.

This will involve moving 300,000 largely domestic consumers out of KPLC’s estimated 1.4 million clients to pre-paid meters.

via Daily Nation read the rest here