Kenya Power is seeking to hire four debt collectors this year in the latest bid to tame defaulters holding billions of shillings.
The utility last week published the tender inviting interested firms to apply for the deals that will last for two years.
“The company commissioned the services of four private debt collectors in the second half of the last financial year. The remaining four will be on-boarded as soon as tendering is concluded,” Kenya Power told the Business Daily.
The monopoly added that the debt ranges from six months to two years, highlighting tough times for families struggling to pay power bills amid the ravages of the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
Domestic consumers are the biggest defaulters of Kenya Power bills, holding over 60 percent of the dues owed to the utility.
The huge chunk of debt amongst households comes at a time power bills have been on the rise due to the increasing petroleum cost in the global market.
This is the second time in as many years that Kenya Power is seeking debt collectors to recover dues that were estimated at Sh5 billion as at August last year.
The debt collectors will help recover dues from households and businesses in four regions including Nairobi and the Coast.
Kenya Power chairperson Vivienne Yeda during the utility’s annual general meeting this year said that sealing loopholes that facilitate financial haemorrhage and improving revenue collection is top on the company’s list.
Kenya Power’s total debts as at end of last June stood at Sh118.73 billion, made up of Sh65.96 billion commercial debt and Sh53.26 billion on-lent debt.