Kenya Power employees arrested for extortion
Police on Friday arrested two Kenya Power employees accused of extorting money from a customer.
Philip Mueti and Robison Mogaka who are revenue collectors stationed in Utawala under the Company’s Nairobi South region extorted one Alice Akumu Orengo Sh30,000 with a promise to reconnect an illegal 3 phase power line which was disconnected on March 16.
Orengo tipped the KPLC security team which led to their arrests.
The two suspects were booked at Ruai Police Station and will be arraigned at Makadara Law Courts on Monday to answer to charges that will be preferred on them.
Kenya Power has heightened security operations across the country to stamp out illegal connections, vandalism, and other criminal activities that degrade the quality of electricity supply to its customers.
The arrest of the two employees comes at a time when the company has called upon members of the public to report any suspicious activities to the nearest office or police station.
In the last two years, the power company has sacked more than 100 employees for abetting various crimes including illegal electricity connection and extorting money from customers to offer services.
The company has also urged customers to avoid paying money to individuals and instead make payments for electricity bills, purchase of token or connection and reconnection fees at KPLC commercial offices spread across the country, through mobile money to the Company’s paybill numbers or through appointed payment agents.
The arrest of the two employees comes less than two weeks after six people believed to be behind a spate of transformer vandalisms were arrested at Kyangombe area in Embakasi in a raid carried out by Kenya Power security personnel together with officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
During the exercise, copper windings and an assortment of cables and other electricity distribution equipment were recovered.
In addition to causing electrocution, illegal power connections undermine the quality of the power supply.
They are also responsible for revenue loss thus affecting the Company’s bottom line.
The Company will continue working closely with security agencies to unmask the people involved in these illegal activities and prosecute them according to the provisions of the Energy Act.