Kenya Power is rolling out a smart metering project that will benefit 55,000 small and medium sized enterprises across the country.

The Kshs1.25bn World Bank funded project is part of the Kenya Electricity Modernisation Project and is slated to be completed by June this year.

The smart meters are part of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) that facilitates two-way communications between the company and the user.

In case of any outage, the smart meters can communicate directly with the company’s national contact centre, which facilitates immediate resolution and enhances efficiency as the Kenya Power teams are alerted promptly. Additionally, the smart meter also sends a notification to the user via SMS.

“These combined benefits of error-free data, prompt network problem identification, and audit of energy consumption will go a long way in enhancing service delivery to our customers in the SME sector,” said Kenya Power’s managing director and CEO Bernard Ngugi. “We believe that the advanced metering technology will further enhance customer satisfaction based on the visibility and prompt detection of power usage and also reduce technical losses which are key to ensuring reliable and quality supply of power.”

Kenya Power & Lighting owns and operates most of the electricity transmission and distribution system in the country. The company’s customer base stood at over 7.9 million as at the end of 2020.