On the morning of Monday, February 24, 2025, tons of garbage was dumped outside the Kenya Power headquarters, Stima Plaza, located in Nairobi’s Central Business District. The perpetrators were staff from the Nairobi City County (NCC). The staff went ahead to clamp vehicles belonging both to Kenya Power and clients of the electricity generating and billing company.
The NCC staff dumped the garbage after Kenya Power disconnected electricity at the Nairobi County offices after the County failed to pay their electricity bills that amounted in billions.
In a statement issued after the incident, Kenya Power stated that the Nairobi City County had an outstanding debt of Sh 3 billion from recent years with another Sh 1.3 billion debt accumulated in the last two years.
“One of the most recent discussions took place at Stima Plaza in December 2024, where Nairobi City County Governor Johnson Sakaja, accompanied by members of the County Executive Committee, met with Kenya Power’s leadership. During the meeting, the Governor committed that the County Government will be paying KShs.60 million in respect to the old debt and additional KShs.50 million as payment for the current bill, every month. In January 2025, the County paid KShs.36 million, which was significantly below the
expected KShs.330 million required to cover the bills for November 2024, December 2024,
and January 2025,” read the statement in part.
It continued, “On 20th January 2025, we issued a letter reminding the County Government to honor its
commitment and settle the outstanding balance due as of that date. Despite multiple follow-ups through various channels, our efforts to resolve the matter remained unfruitful. After exhausting all avenues to recover the outstanding debt as outlined in the Energy Act 2019, we proceeded to disconnect power supply to several county facilities on 14th February 2025. However, we received a letter from the County on Friday, 21st February 2025 informing us that they had initiated a payment of KShs.133 million, pending approval. Based on this commitment, we restored electricity supply to all affected facilities on the same Friday afternoon.”
However, on the same Friday evening, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, under alleged instructions from the County government, disconnected water supply and blocked sewer lines to Stima Plaza and several other Kenya Power properties across the city. These actions were taken despite the fact that there are no outstanding water bills associated with these premises. In view of the above, we wish to state that the Company’s business operations are guided by applicable laws, which also inform its dispute resolution mechanisms with all customers and stakeholders. It is, therefore, regrettable that the Nairobi City County Government chose to engage with us through such unethical, unprofessional, and
unlawful actions. On the claim that we owe the County money arising from wayleaves charges, we wish
to state that Section 223 of the Energy Act, 2019 expressly states that “No public body
shall charge levies on public energy infrastructure without the consent of the Cabinet
Secretary in writing.” added the statement.
Kenya Power stood by its decision to disconnect power to the County offices on “behalf of the entire energy sector, to sustain the sector and the economy.”
