This is an update of the injustice and impunity Kenya power is committing against the hapless residents of Jericho Lumumba as reported earlier.
They have today, Tuesday, 17th September at 11:50 am disconnected our supply again, telling the few residents that they met that they are under instructions from their top management to have our electricity cut off regardless of whether or not we have settled our bills.
The have refused to meet the residents in a Town Hall meeting or an open air baraza to discuss the modalities of transferring the individual meters to a central place and the burden of who will bear the cost.
We are aware that their demand goes against the President Ruto’s order of not disconnecting the utility service for the majority on account of a few defaulters and the residents lack the legal or technical capacity to move the meters anyway.
This is purely an act of monopolistic disdain against their consumers.
This is Jericho Lumumba residents’ appeal to you;
Ministry of Energy, Competition Authority of Kenya, Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Ombudsman, Consumers Federation of Kenya and the Kenya Human Rights Commission
Kindly help us find a solution to this oppression.
We have attached today’s Scheduled Power Interruption as released to the media by KPLC and our location is not part of this. THIS MEANS OUR DISCONNECTION IS ILLEGAL and part of an internal scheme to frustrate the residents for their own ulterior motives.
The paid up consumers who have had their electricity disconnected are being referred to as collateral damage. How fair is this?
The residents plea is for the highhanded KPLC to humble themselves and concede to have a consultative meeting with the tenants to discuss their demands as envisaged by its core values:
“Of Customer First – One Team – Passion – Integrity – Excellence – Accountability Our Quality Policy Kenya Power is committed to providing high-quality customer service by efficiently transmitting and distributing high-quality electricity that is safe, adequate and reliable at a cost-effective rate. ”
Kind regards,
Wambua mwana’a Munguti.
I humbly escalate this unfortunate misdeed by Kenya Power on residents of the above County Council estate to your esteemed office in a solemn bid to appeal to your intervention in the matter.
The KPLC, on the mentioned date and without prior notification as it normally does to its customers by way of the Power Maintenance Schedule periodically advertised in mainstream media.
This abrupt and indiscriminate disconnection on the 26th of August 2024 at 11:20 am was a punishment to the residents for harbouring electricity bills defaulters among ourselves as stated by the official who switched off the power from two transformers affecting approximately 400 households.
We found this action illegal, unjustified and oppressive.
A majority of the residents had cleared their July electricity bills and this unwarranted action went against the president’s order of the 27th of January 2023 that His Excellency made in Shauri Moyo while launching the Affordable Housing Project in Eastlands.
The deliberate blackout lasted for 3 consecutive days.
Kindly permit me to mention here that the contract each resident has signed with KPLC is of an individual nature and NOT communal.
We are aware that some of our neighbours are sick and preserve their medicines under cold temperatures.
Since the COVID epidemic a significant number of the employed had changed to working from home and therefore had installed WiFi in their houses.
Due to the unscheduled lengthy period without electricity family food provisions stored in the fridges got spoilt.
Then, to add insult to injury on the 29th of August 2024 after we had written letters to KPLC, EPRA, Ombudsman, Competition Authority of Kenya, COFEK, KHRC, etc they haphazardly reconnected us back but with serious problems. We suffered a sustained power surge of 500 volts for a period of 3 hours causing great damage to our devices that were connected to the power.
Kenya Power has refused to meet the residents and we are pushed to the wall about our plight. The area is captured as a low-income zone and it will take time to organise, collect funds to pursue a court case and that is the reason for this letter; to see whether your intervention can bring a faster and an amicable resolution.
Wambua mwana’a Munguti, Chairman, The Joint Committee of Jericho and Lumumba Residents Associations
