Not Again: Electricity bills set to rise next beginning October.
Fuel prices were reviewed upwards last week and poor Kenyans have been greatly affected as the prices of other commodities increased due to an increase in fuel prices.
As if the burden is not heavy enough, the prices for electrical energy is set to rise beginning next month. This will further burden the common “mwananchi” considering that prices of major commodities have increased greatly in the recent past.
Over the past thirty-eight months, the expected rise in electricity bills will be the highest so far. This review was approved by Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority last week on Friday.
On another story, the strike that was planned to kick off beginning next month by KPLC workers have been called off by their union officials.
The strike has been suspended to give room for negotiations to reach an agreement on the issues that are affecting them.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy has volunteered to arbitrate negotiations between KETAWU and Kenya Power to prevent the planned strike from taking place.
The Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Energy Charles Keter said that he invited Union officials and the KPLC management to his office and held talks about the matter. The company’s Board of Directors will also be called in for talks to resolve the issues.
The Union gave a notice for the strike last week demanding that four directors resign or else the workers will down their tools.
The four are; Vivienne Yeda, Rogo Elizabeth, Gudka Sachen and Kittony Caroline. They are accused of micromanaging the team and also interfering with all processes related to procurement.
The exit of Benard Ngugi former managing director has been linked by the working staff to wrangles in management affairs and procurement issues within the firm. It is said that the former managing director refused to approve a project that was backed by the board of directors.
The smart meter was to benefit Safaricom dealers and not the Kenya power company said Mr Nadowe general secretary KETAWU.
The talks will be given an ultimatum of thirty days to resolve all the issues one by one.
