Kenya Power won’t compensate customers in Sh35.3m tokens theft

About 3,500 customers colluded with Kenya Power staff to steal Sh35.3 million worth of prepaid tokens generated illegally from the utility firm, Parliament heard Wednesday.

Jared Othieno, the Kenya Power acting managing director, told the Senate committee on Energy that 13 members of staff were found to have been involved in the fraud. The staff found culpable were either sacked or disciplined administratively, Mr Othieno said.

The electricity distributor, he said, will not compensate any customer found to have colluded with the staff to steal the tokens on diverse dates between January 2018 and February 2018.

“All the customers who were affected bought tokens at discounted amounts knowingly from my fraudulent staff. None of the money came to Kenya Power,” Mr Othieno told the committee chaired by Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina, adding that some customers and staff had recorded statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. The prepaid tokens had been advertised on social media for sale at discounted prices.

“They went ahead and bought Sh3,000 worth of tokens at a price of Sh1,000 and used them in their homes. Kenya Power went to the affected customers and we told them that they engaged in fraud since Kenya Power didn’t get a single cent of your money. They have since signed statements saying they colluded with our staff,” Mr Othieno said.

Mr Othieno was, however, hard-presed to explain why Kenya Power cannot take responsibility and pay customers who may have been tricked into the fraud by its officers.

He said Kenya Power has hired the services of an independent ICT expert from Deloitte to audit its systems. Committee members accused the company of strangling customers with high power tariffs owing to its monopoly.

“Your staff went out and sold fraudulent tokens. Whatever your employees do binds you as a company. Because you are a monopoly, when your officers engage in fraud, it doesn’t bother you but instead you go and punish customers who were tricked into the fraud more by recovering the money the fraudster took,” Bungoma Senator Mosees Wetang’ula said.