Kenya Power (KP) said on Wednesday, July 3, it has updated two million prepaid meters in the past three weeks as part of a “Update Token Meter Yako” campaign that kicked off in mid-June.
The initiative, which is free for customers, aims to update the software of 7.4 million prepaid meters to ensure uninterrupted access to electricity.
“The numbers are encouraging and we are happy to note that our customers have taken the call to update their meters seriously. We are almost at 30% of the targeted meters, and we are optimistic that all our prepaid customers will have updated their meters by the 31st August deadline,” the company’s managing director and chief executive Dr. (Eng.) Joseph Siror, said.
The campaign is part of a worldwide effort to update all prepaid meters that use the Standard Transfer Specification – STS –, a universal method that ensures security of tokens transferred to prepaid meters.
“The company has set the end of August 2024 as the deadline for the update of all STS-compliant meters within the network,” Mr Siror said.
To ensure a smooth process, KP is updating the meters in phases, with customers getting SMS notification when their meter is scheduled for an update. It said customers receive the update codes when they purchase an electricity token.
“The phased approach has ensured that the prepaid system is not overloaded with customer requests for the update codes. This has minimised challenges such as system delays and made it easier to purchase tokens and access the update codes. We encourage all customers to update their meter once they receive the codes,” he explained.
While the update does not affect tokens already loaded into the meters, he said, customers should load any unused tokens before updating, as failing to do so will render them invalid.
Mr Siror added that the company is incorporating customer feedback to improve the campaign, ensuring all prepaid customers can update their meters successfully.
Besides SMS notifications, customers can access update codes through the company’s self-service platform by dialling *977#, a USSD code that serves as a backup in case SMS notification is lost. By Ann Precious Kinyua
