Kenya Power has reached out to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in curtailing illegal power connections and vandalism of distribution lines across the country.
The power utility firm's chief executive officer and MD Joseph Siror on Wednesday paid a courtesy call to DCI boss Mohamed Amin to explore ways in which he could collaborate in combating the ills.
"Some of the challenges discussed which the MD said largely undermined the quality of power supply included illegal power connections, theft of power and vandalism of electricity supply equipment and infrastructure among others," the DCI said in a statement after the meeting.
"While acknowledging that illegal connections are also unsafe as they are not subjected to the required standards and may cause harm or fatalities, Mr Amin pledged to work in tandem with the firm on the highlighted cases that are within the bracket of DCI's mandate."
Vandalism has over the years cost Kenya power millions of shillings in losses through repairs of stolen cables and transformers.
Energy Principal Secretary Alex Wachira said, in April, the power utility firm loses an average of 20 transformers weekly to vandalism thereby negatively affecting the company’s operations.
Speaking when he appeared before members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy in Naivasha on April 25, Wachira said the losses are passed on to consumers through increased bills and hence affecting the economy.
In 2019 for instance, Kenya Power said it incurred a Sh60 million loss occasioned by vandals where as many as 73 transformers had been stolen by August that year.