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HashtagHustleNews

#SwitchoffKPLC renewed despite lawyer Apollo Mboya’s out of court deal


Activists have renewed calls to get Kenya Power to compensate all customers who received inflated bills.

The #SwitchoffKPLC hashtag has been revived after lawyer Apollo Mboya and the power distributor agreed on an out of court settlement that angered Kenyans.

Jerotich Seii, who was working closely with Mr Mboya in the class action suit, claimed the out of court deal was struck in her absence. She has now partnered with Wanjeri Nderu to give a new life to the campaign.

Ms Seii assured Kenyans that Kenya Power will not run away from refunding all consumers who were overcharged.

“Below is a non-exhaustive list of outstanding demands; Demand 1: Fair consumer tariffs – not #OimekeTariffLies. Demand 2: Refund all consumers who paid excess bills as part of the illegal recovery of Sh 10.1B – KPLC 2017 Annual Report. Demand 3: No more 3rd party vendor cartels & mobile money systems tampering. Demand 4: End of KPLC dominance & consumer freedom to choose preferred Distributor. Demand 5: A systems & financial forensic audit of KPLC since 1999, & of ERC since 2007,” she wrote.

The #SwitchoffKPLC campaign lost steam after Mr Mboya agreed with Kenya Power that customers would be given 30 days to appeal inflated bills, that the power distributor will stick to the gazetted tariffs and that the company pays all costs incurred in filing the suit.

Kenyans lashed out at the lawyer, saying it was a class action suit that required participating Kenyans to have a say on what would be agreed out of court.

The participants have since regrouped under Ms Seii and will open up avenues to have a stronger and all inclusive class action that will ensure all overcharged customers get refunded and electricity costs lowered.