OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 22nd, 23rd,....

Last night (10th April 2023), at 9.16 pm we had an outage of a few seconds.

Early this morning at 4.40 am, we had another one which lasted a couple of minutes.

The reason I am writing about this is because of promise when I started numbering these offensive outages and fluctuations that though this time these latest ones came after quite a few days, they did happen. Though, as far as we could figure out, there was nothing to cause the night outage while the early morning one today was amid a lot of thundering going on.

Does thunder cause outages? Lightening maybe, but thunder is just noise! Considering we will hopefully soon start our rainy season which this time is arriving with lots of thunder, I wonder what we will be put through by Kenya Power under the excuse of the weather...?!

OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 20th, 21st,....

Yesterday morning we had an outage, though of a short duration, an outage, all the same.

This morning we had another one quite early, of the same duration. Again without rhyme or reason.

Also, since late last year, every time I go to buy my prepaid token at Kenya Power offices in Nyali, I have discovered that the number of units I get for the same amount that I buy every month I receive fewer and fewer units but am paying higher and higher TAXES for all kinds of things. WHY?!!!!  To the extent that our actual power bill costs less than the amount we pay in various taxes!!!

This brings me to the point that we Kenyans are being taxed, literally to death....this is DISGUSTING! What 'services', if any, are we receiving for all these taxes we pay? And we in fact end up paying taxes more than once for the same thing... Every 'service' we buy (we get NOTHING FREE), is taxed!!! Think about this and calculate... I am beginning to believe that we are soon (if not already), even be paying taxes for the air (of whatever quality) we breathe!

FLUCTUATIONS AND OUTAGES - 16, 17, 18, 19,...

This morning while trying to watch the news at 10 am, the power fluctuated three times starting at 10.13 am, the next at 10.17 am, the third at 10.19 am and the 4th at 10.44 am!

As expected, the phones went unanswered as usual. Which means that these people who are supposed to be in-charge of making sure that we, the consumers get an uninterrupted supply had no idea what was happening and therefore could give no reason for these repeated fluctuations within minutes of each other...

It has been a novelty that since my last missive, we have not had either outages or fluctuations, Alhamdulillah!

Raziya

OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 13, 14, 15,...

We had just over 24 hours of respite from Kenya Power's shoddy 'service', and at around 1.15 pm, the fluctuations started..

Nos, 13 and 14 were nearly together while the 15th was about an hour and a half later. What causes them? May we know, please?

They cause lots of damage to our appliances not to mention the tension they cause. Now that Ramadhan has begun, is this the kind of questionable 'service' we are going to be getting - erratic in the EXTREME!

FLUCTUATIONS AND OUTAGES - 10, 11, 12,....

Since just after midnight, we have already had three outages and fluctuations which brings my numbering to twelve and counting...

As I was about to start writing this, the power went off then came on a couple of minutes later, but it was low voltage where the regulators showed RED for quite a while. Tried calling but this time not only were the phones not being answered but a message showed me that the numbers I was dialing were not registered on the network....! How is this possible?

Also, the 11th one happened as is quite common of late - in the morning at just after 8.00 when people need power the most. This outage was of nearly 15 minutes and no one can enlighten us the reason for it. Was it because, since we live in a 'banana republic', due to the start of the rain?!

What is Kenya Power really up to? Doesn't it have responsible employees who can ethically and accountably work to provide service?

I am really beginning to believe that have 'jua kali' type personnel employed by Kenya Power.... What we would call 'matatu' mentality, also! A don't care attitude!

OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 9

Well, it seems that Kenya Power has no SHAME whatsoever plus is impervious to the needs of their customers and are practicing impunity, too.

At just before 3.00 pm, we suffered another total outage with no one answering their phones. It returned after about 5 minutes. But, what we would collectively like to know is what are the causes of these persistent outages and fluctuations? Maybe, if they told us, we might, just might sympathise with them....

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OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

After I wrote about the outage in the morning yesterday, we had three more in the course of the day and into the night!

The 4th happened after I got a message (SMS), from one of the engineers of Kenya Power informing me that there would be an outage of half an hour at about 4.00 pm (4). Well, it went and came back after about half an hour. This engineer seemed surprised that I was angry with Kenya Power because he was informing me about the outage. He could not understand why I was angry. For his information and the rest of this redoubtable 'power' company, we get mad because of persistent outages and fluctuation, and much as I appreciate his informing me, what about the rest of the users of electricity?! 

But, then we had another outage hardly 30 minutes later about which KP knew nothing and for once one of them answered the phone and his voice showed surprise at this (5), outage! This one lasted another half an hour!!!

Again, after about fifteen to twenty minutes, we suffered another massive fluctuation (6), where the power regulators switched all our devices. This 'normalized' after about 5 minutes and mercifully we had no other incidents the remainder of the night.

Unfortunately, this morning we had another outage (7), of several minutes around 7.45 am. Then, at about 10.25 am (8), we suffered another massive fluctuation and this is just the start of the day....

We fear to think of how many more our irresponsible and careless power company is going to make us go through in the course of today....

OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 3

First thing this morning at just before 8.30 am the power went off! It returned after about 5 minutes. We also don't know how many more fluctuations and outages we are going to go through in the course of the remainder of the day...

Again the question - why does this have to happen nearly EVERY SINGLE DAY?! 

This is already number 3 and it is not even a week since number 1.... As I said then, I am numbering the outages and frequency of them to give all my recipients including Kenya Power the seriousness of the problem.

POWER OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 2

 Just before Kenya Power switched off our power this morning, I got a message (SMS), from one of our engineers informing me that we would be having an outage of 30 minutes. This meant that my last email regarding Kenya Power's attitude seemed to have borne fruit, Alhamdulillah! But, this outage was not of half an hour - it returned after nearly 45 minutes.

Anyway, at around twenty to one (mid-day), there was a massive fluctuation where all our power regulators switched things off and was on red for some few minutes. Calling the engineers was a vain pursuit as usual though one of them being a Muslim would have the legitimate excuse of attending Friday Prayers. But, the other one could and should have picked the phone.

So, was the earlier outage the cause of the later fluctuation?

POWER OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 1

 Early on the morning of Saturday 11th March 2023, before 3.00 am, our power went. Tried to call Kenya Power's engineers to no avail. None of them was answering. After over an hour, one answered and was told it would take another hour to restore.

Unfortunately, this did not happen and when at 6.00 am we were still suffering in this awful heat, and I called, again no answer and when finally one of them, did, was told it would take another hour! Yet, a few minutes after hanging up, the power mercifully returned. So, why was this engineer lying to me? 

This is one of the reasons we don't have any confidence in these people and suspect that they don't work 24 hours as the long-suffering public is made to believe, but can only work during daylight hours. Kenya Power has lost its credibility with the public (consumers), whom they are supposed to serve because they do not keep its word and even lies to us. 

Forget about transparency, they are not even translucent but extremely OPAQUE!!!

Then, just after about 36 hours of the above outage of over 3 hours, we had another one of these outage/fluctuations yesterday (12th March 2023), late afternoon. Again, there was no response when called and while the power returned after a couple of minutes, these play havoc with our electrical devices, and the regulators they are attached to, start malfunctioning. Who will pay for this damage?

This missive has the number 1 in the title. Henceforth, I will start numbering these fluctuations/outages so that both the receiving public and Kenya power for their record will be able to tell how often this happens with their so-called services.