KPLC's meter update exercise to end next week

Nairobi, 

Thursday, 22 August, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

Kenya power's Update meter yako program is set to end next week on Saturday, 31 August, 2024, following two months of the exercise in the country. 

The free exercise which was launched on 12 June,2024 targets all prepaid token meter users to update their meter softwares in order to continue enjoying convenient acess to electricity. 

According to Kenya Power, a total of 5.64 million prepaid (token) meters have already been updated from a target number of 7.4 million prepaid users. 

The company has reminded all prepaid consumers who have not yet updated their meters to comply with the set deadline in order to avoid electricity interruption. 

"So far the exercise has achieved a good response and we thank all our consumers who have already updated their meters. We have scheduled all the prepaid meters for update and we urge all the remaining consumers to utilize the period before the deadline to update their meters to avoid disruption. "Said Kenya Power managing Director Eng. Joseph Siror. 

After the deadline, customers who still need to update their meters will not be able to load electricity tokens, and consequently, they will not have electricity.

To acess the meter update codes, consumers are urged to purchase atleast one unit of electricity and thereafter key in the codes (20-digit numbers) into the meter by following the steps provided in the token sms. 

The basic step involves keying in the first code to reset the meter, then entering the second code to update the meter. Thereafter, consumers can then proceed to load the tokens as usual.

The exercise only applies to customers on the prepaid (token) system and does not involve meters billed every month (post-paid).

Before updating their meters, consumers must ensure that all preciously bought tokens have been loaded into the meter. 

To ensure that the exercise is carried out successfully, the company adopted a phased approach where prepaid token meters are scheduled for update in batches. 

"The phase approach has ensured that the prepaid system is not overloaded with consumer requests for the update codes. This has minimized challanges such as system dekay and made it easier to purchase tokens and acess the update codes" Siror noted. 

Apart from the sms notification, consumers can also acess their prepaid meter update codes through the company's self-service platform *997# which also serves as a backup incase the sms notification is lost. 

The company has however noted that the program is ongoing globally targeting all prepaid meters that use the Standard Transfer specification (STS) - a universal method to transfer tokens to prepaid meters that ensures security of generated tokens. The program will hence not affect the cost of tokens.