Why Kenya Power has cut off power to over 20 flats in Tassia Estate
Kenya Power has disconnected electricity supply to more than 20 flats in Nairobi’s Tassia Estate in a sting operation following increased cases of vandalism and illegal connections.
This comes a month after an Eldoret court sentenced two men to 10 years imprisonment each for stealing and vandalising transformers.
The company said increased surveillance and stiffer legal penalties had averted hundreds of millions of shillings in losses by reducing the number of vandalised transformers by 40 per cent from 222 two years ago to 133 last year.
“In collaboration with the police, the company is carrying out operations to ensure that we eliminate illegal connections, by-passing of meters and theft of our equipment,” said Aggrey Machasio, regional manager, Nairobi South.
TOXIC OIL
Vandals eye toxic oil that is drawn from transformers and is allegedly used for frying food at roadside eateries while copper wires from the equipment are sold to fix motors and as scrap metal.
Mr Machasio noted during the Tassia crackdown that illegal power connections pose danger not only to the culprits but also to beneficiaries.
Aside from denying the utility firm revenue, illegal power connections have been blamed for causing outages and undermining the quality of power supply.
The World Bank says Kenyans stay without power for 25 days a year on average due to blackouts.
Kenya Power has also started mounting transformers in more inaccessible places, such as inside homes and much higher up on poles.