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Two million prepaid meters updated -Kenya Power

A Kenya Power token meter. (Photo: Kenya Power)

By Lucy Mumbi | Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror expressed optimism that 7.4 million meters will have been updated by the August 31, 2024, deadline.

Kenya Power has successfully updated two million prepaid (token) meters within three weeks of launching the Update Token Meter Yako Campaign.

The free initiative aims to upgrade the software of 7.4 million prepaid meters, ensuring continued access to electricity for customers.

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Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror expressed optimism that 7.4 million meters will have been updated by the August 31, 2024, deadline.

“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 per cent of the targeted meters, and we are optimistic that all our prepaid customers will have updated their meters by the August 31 deadline,” Siror said.

The Update Token Meter Yako campaign is part of an ongoing global exercise that targets all prepaid meters that use the Standard Transfer Specification (STS).

STS is a universal method used to transfer tokens to prepaid meters that ensures the security of generated tokens.

Siror added that the company has adopted a phased approach where prepaid (token) meters are scheduled for update in batches, to ensure the exercise is carried out successfully.

To update a token meter, a customer receives an SMS notification, then two update codes are sent to the customer upon purchase of 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 said.

The company said it is also noting and incorporating important feedback into the Update Token Meter Yako Campaign deployment strategy, to ensure that all the prepaid customers are fully empowered to update their meters once scheduled.

Apart from the SMS notification, customers can also access their prepaid meter update codes through the Company's self-service platform *977#.

“This also serves as a backup in case the SMS notification is lost,” Kenya Power said.

It noted that the update will not impact existing tokens that are already loaded into the meter. However, customers have been advised to load any unutilized tokens before updating their meters as failure to do so will render them invalid.