Lawyer Apollo Mboya wants Kenya Power boss jailed over inflated bills
Lawyer Apollo Mboya in a Milimani court on June 19, 2017. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He said he had received three different bills in December alone.
- Mr Mboya together with the association filed a suit following protests over estimated high electricity bills.
Top bosses of Kenya Power and the Energy Regulating Commission (ERC) risk jail for allegedly failing to ensure that inflated backdated electricity bills are not sent to consumers.
While accusing Kenya Power's managing director and Chief executive Dr Ken Tarus and ERC’s Director General Robert Pavel Oimeke of failing to comply with a January 12 order, Mr Apollo Mboya together with the Electricity Consumers Society of Kenya want the two bosses jailed for contempt.
CONTEMPT
In an application filed on Wednesday, Mr Mboya has the two companies of failing to comply with the order stopping the billing of electricity consumers with backdated inflated bills in an attempt to recover Sh10.1 billion deferred as fuel costs for last year.
“Leave be granted herein to institute contempt of court proceedings against the agents of KPLC and ERC to wit Dr Tarus and Mr Oimeke respectively for failure to comply with the order stopping billing of consumers with inflated bills,” said Mr Mboya.
On January 11, Mr Mboya together with the association filed a suit following protests over estimated high electricity bills. Justice Enoch Chacha Mwita issued the temporary reprieve order.
ELECTRICITY
According to Mr Mboya, Kenya Power billed him Sh 2,319.43 on January 23 for Account No. 428130 despite it showing zero consumption of electricity based on the same previous reading.
In the case documents, he therefore argued that the two companies have continued to bill consumers with backdated electricity bills in contempt of the order issued.
Before the temporary order was issued, he argued that the constitution states that consumers have a right to goods and services of reasonable quality as well as information necessary for them to gain full benefit of the same.
He said he had received three different bills in December alone of Sh 9,863.43, Sh 2, 143.43 and Sh 3, 929.43.
He therefore set up an email [email protected] and asked other members of the public to send their complaints on that address.
He claimed that he received 600 emails on various issues ranging from overbilling, reduction in units, malfunctioning of equipment and unexplained fluctuating tariffs among others.
