A total of two million prepaid (token) meters have been updated in the last three weeks since the public launch of the Kenya Power Update Token Meter Yako Campaign.
The free exercise targets 7.4 million prepaid (token) meters, whose software must be updated to enable customers to continue enjoying access to electricity.
“The numbers are encouraging and we are happy to note that our customers have taken the call to update their meters seriously," Kenya Power’s Managing Director and CEO Joseph Siror said.
"We are almost at 30 per cent of the targeted meters, and we are optimistic that all our prepaid customers will have updated their meters by the 31st August deadline,” Siror said.
The Update Token Meter Yako campaign is part of an ongoing global exercise that targets all prepaid meters that use the Standard Transfer Specification (STS)- a universal method to transfer tokens to prepaid meters that ensures the security of generated tokens.
Siror in a statement on Wednesday explained that the company has set the end of August 2024 as the deadline for the update of all STS-compliant meters within the network.
To ensure that the exercise is carried out successfully, the company has adopted a phased approach where prepaid (token) meters are scheduled for update in batches.
Once a meter is scheduled, a customer receives an SMS notification and thereafter the update codes are sent to the customer upon purchase of an electricity token.
“The phased approach has ensured that the prepaid system is not overloaded with customer requests for the update codes. This has minimised challenges such as system delays and made it easier to purchase tokens and access the update codes. We encourage all customers to update their meter once they receive the codes,” Siror said.
He added that the company is noting and incorporating important feedback into the Update Token Meter Yako Campaign deployment strategy.
This is to ensure that all prepaid customers are fully empowered to update their meters once scheduled.
Apart from the SMS notification, customers can also access their prepaid meter update codes through the Company’s self-service platform *977#.
This also serves as a backup in case the SMS notification is lost.
The update will not impact existing tokens that are already loaded into the meter.
However, customers are advised to load any unutilized tokens before updating their meters as failure to do so would render them invalid.