Kenya Power has introduced a service, under the *977# USSD code, that will enable its prepaid and postpaid customers to manage their bills.
Under the new service, the company’s 1.8 million post-paid customers can now take advantage of the self-read option on *977# to submit their meter readings to get their actual monthly bills.
Every month, customers who register for the self-read option will get a prompt asking them to submit their readings within the next three days.
The platform also enables pre-paid customers to purchase tokens and retrieve the last three purchased tokens.
By dialing *977#, customers can also report outages, apply for new electricity connections, and verify the identities of people presenting as employees or contractors of the company.
“The use of technology is one of the measures that the company is taking to enhance its responsiveness to existing and emerging customer needs,"Managing Director and CEO, Bernard Ngugi, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The company is also rolling out a county structure which is premised on devolving its key functions such as operations and maintenance, customer service,” he added.
He said there are also plans to use technology to complement these initiatives and free field staff to verify the readings submitted by customers and carry out inspections to ensure that meters are in good condition.
The USSD code is part of innovative solutions that the company is deploying to enhance service delivery, and improve customer experience by promoting interaction in a more reliable, affordable, convenient and fast manner.
Currently, most customers access the company’s services by calling the National contact centre or by physically visiting offices across the country.
“We are keen on forging a proactive engagement with our customers in order to address the challenges they are facing,”said Ngugi.
Besides the USSD code, customers can also access the company’s services through MyPower app which is available on android and iOS.
Tenants can register on the App and submit their meter readings on a monthly basis.