Saturday, March 15, 2014

Outages started, again...

Why is it that Kenya Power cannot give a consistent supply of electricity to it's consumers? Yet, it has the cheek to ask for advance payment for a 'service' which is highly unacceptable and pathetic in the extreme. I am talking about their pre-paid ambitions. While they LOVE our money, they unfortunately for us, do not do their work with the same zeal.

How dare they even think about making the whole country forcibly go pre-paid in a set-up like this.

I am talking about today and the many days to come when the rains start in full swing. At the first sound of thunder, the power went off in Nyali. And as usual, trying to get these incompetents on the phone is becoming an exercise in futility. 

I  have a suspicious feeling that they deliberately switch their phones off, since they do not want to be asked 'difficult' questions that some people like me will start asking them. They have no answer and no excuse to give us it seems and to add insult to injury there is no apology for  their shoddy 'service' either.

Now, let me inform all of you who still are on post paid accounts. Count yourselves lucky since you can still fight for the questionable bills that this company is in the habit of sending to you. You can as least go and complain to them and raise hell if needs be in their offices if not attended to. This because you are mercifully still on their post-paid system.

I have been told by the many friends and family who are on their pre-paid one, that they truly regret this since these meters seem to swallow money like water. When a couple of them went to Electricity house to complain they started getting a run-a-round i.e. an unofficial 'tour' of the various offices there to get their errant, 'thirsty' meters investigated. Of course nothing happened at the end of it. The frustrated people left their complaints not entertained at all. 

With such an unaccountable company supplying us with this gateway to the 21st Century, they have no business forcing people to accept their pre-paid arrangement.

People who are on post-paid lately have also been receiving highly inflated bills. I wonder why? Are Kenya Power trying to intimidate it's consumers into accepting the pre-paid arrangement?

I know of one poor family in the North Coast who  have no electrical gadgets or even a fridge or fan, and who till recently were paying no more than 700/- a month suddenly get 10 times that amount!

When the man of the house went to their offices to do battle and asked to see the seniors, these 'juniors' quickly tried placating him and telling him that they had made a mistake by sending him anothers bill!!!! That he should come back again the following Tuesday (this was a Friday), when they would rectify his bill.

After reading this account, does anybody think that this power company is at all accountable, responsible, ethical and professional? I am sure that there are many others all over the country who have similar stories to tell. So, imagine if we were all on pre-paid? Post paid is nightmarish enough.

Oh, just now while writing this the power went off a second time today and trying to call an Eng. named Biwott whose number is supposed to be valid this time the prompt voice kept telling me that it found the number 'unrecognizable'!!! How strange....

So, with this I will leave you  to think about  this disgusting and incompetent power company which is holding the whole country at it's mercy.

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