Kenya Power workers sue over bid to outsource meter readers
Kenya Power managing director Ben Chumo (centre) accompanied by Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno are tickled by Ms Veronica Mwihaki and her daughter Hannah Wanjiku (left), after their house in Eldoret was connected to electricity on Sunday. The firm’s meter readers have sued over a bid to outsource the service fearing for their jobs. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Under the Kenya Electrical Traders and Allied Workers Union (Ketawu), the workers on Monday successfully applied to the Employment and Labour Relations Court to stop the utility from proceeding with the tender process until their case is heard and determined.
- The company is banking on outsourced services to seal loopholes blamed for revenue loss. The undertaking has, however, received a lot of criticism from Ketawu which represents about 800 of the affected workers.
- In December 2012, it announced a plan to migrate all clients to prepaid meters by the end of 2015 to avoid revenue loss through defaults.
Over 1,000 Kenya Power employees have moved to court in a bid to block the electricity distributor from out-sourcing meter reading services on grounds that they will lose their jobs.
Under the Kenya Electrical Traders and Allied Workers Union (Ketawu), the workers on Monday successfully applied to the Employment and Labour Relations Court to stop the utility from proceeding with the tender process until their case is heard and determined.
“The respondent is hereby prohibited from receiving bids, fees for bids, opening tender documents, evaluating, pre-qualifying providers for tenders, meeting and dealing in any way with invitation to tender pending the hearing and determination of this application,” Mr Justice Nderi Nduma said in his ruling.
Kenya Power advertised bids for meter reading services on February 3, a process that was aimed at outsourcing the function, which is currently being carried out by about 600 employees of the company. Another 500 staff are on the firm’s payroll tasked with carrying out jobs associated with meter reading such as data filing and supervision.
In a notice published yesterday, Kenya Power cancelled the disputed tender. It was scheduled to meet with bidders on Tuesday. The parties will appear in court on March 9.
The company is banking on outsourced services to seal loopholes blamed for revenue loss. The undertaking has, however, received a lot of criticism from Ketawu which represents about 800 of the affected workers.
The union has expressed concerns over possible redundancies should Kenya Power’s plan go see light of the day.
NOT UNION MEMBERS
It is understood that pressure is also mounting from other employees, mainly in management who are not members of the union.
“The management is not clear on the fate of employment for the employees that are currently doing the work. We are also questioning the credibility of the whole process in terms of whether there is value for money in outsourcing this job,” said Ernest Nadome, Ketawu’s secretary general in a telephone interview.
Less than half of Kenya Power’s customers are currently relying on prepaid meters. The firm had 676,788 prepaid meters as at June 2014, according to its annual report.
In December 2012, it announced a plan to migrate all clients to prepaid meters by the end of 2015 to avoid revenue loss through defaults.
