Kenya Power’s unconvincing explanation for tokens purchase delay
Kenya Power on Monday on Monday blamed the technical hitch that hit its electricity tokens purchasing service on a high number of transactions.
The hitch left thousands of Kenyans without power as they could not buy tokens through Kenya Power’s paybill number 888880 and were informed the “organisation receiving the payment is unavailable”.
In a statement, Kenya power said the hitch had also affected its contact centre 97771.
“We have managed to address the IT hitch affecting the system that occurred yesterday but vending of tokens remains slow due to a high number of customer transactions,” KPLC said on Monday.
— The Kenya Power & Lighting Company Plc. (@KenyaPower) April 25, 2021
The power distributor said it was working to restore normalcy at the contact centre, operations at their banking halls and other customer touch points, even as many users of its services lambasted the company over its lacklustre handling of the matter more than 24 hours after the problem started being reported across the country.
“We thank our customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused,” it said.
Earlier this month, Kenya Power was forced to apologise after customers in the country were left in the dark on what was supposed to be a Good Friday following a technical glitch in the token vending system at Kenya Power.
— The Kenya Power & Lighting Company Plc. (@KenyaPower) April 26, 2021
Some of the payments made through mobile money platforms such as M-pesa failed to go through even as those that managed to do so were not processed.
Read: Kenya Power apologize for token hitch
“Good afternoon our esteemed customers. We are working to resolve a technical hitch that is causing a delay in token vending. Once normalcy returns we will issue an update and send the tokens. We apologize for the inconvenience caused,” the power company’s statement on social media read in part.
Kenya Power was recently on the spot for giving preference to expensive thermal power over cheaper options such as geothermal and hydro, effectively setting up consumers for higher electricity prices.