Pre-paid Consumers will now have a harder time noticing irregular token allocation after the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) announced it had stopped providing them with a breakdown of their electricity bills.
Henceforth, consumers will only receive payment statements that only show the costs and units purchased and lumps together other charges like the monthly variable items like fuel and foreign exchange adjustments expenses.
Previously, the utility provided details on payment of value-added tax (VAT), Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) levy, inflation adjustment, water regulator fees as well as foreign exchange and fuel adjustment surcharges.
This update makes it difficult for consumers to establish whether the costing on their bills matches the unit prices for various items like tax, regulatory levies, and other surcharges with data published monthly in the Kenya Gazette by Epra.
The energy regulator is, however, investigating the monopoly utility firm to establish the reasons behind the shift in the billing statement amid concerns of a possible breach of consumer rights.
“We have taken note of this matter and are currently probing to establish the reasons behind it. Once we arrive at the conclusion of our investigation, we shall make the findings public and take necessary regulatory actions,” Epra director-general Pavel Oimeke said according to BD.
The Consumer Protection Act 2012 demands that consumers are provided with full information, including the price and quality of any product they purchase.
