Why Kenyans Are Getting Fewer Electricity Tokens for the Same Money — Kenya Power CEO Explains

Kenya Power CEO Joseph Siror has broken down the reasons behind declining electricity token units, pointing to tariff structures, infrastructure costs, and automatic bill recovery deductions as the main drivers.

Millions of Kenyan households have noticed a troubling pattern at the meter: the same amount of money is buying fewer and fewer electricity units. Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) Chief Executive Officer Joseph Siror has now publicly addressed these concerns, offering a detailed explanation of the forces driving up the effective cost of electricity for consumers across the country.

Speaking during a televised interview on KTN News on Tuesday, Siror said that whether electricity feels expensive depends largely on a household’s consumption habits, the appliances in use, and which billing tariff category a customer falls under.

Lifeline Tariff vs. Domestic Ordinary Tariff

Siror explained that low-consumption households in Kenya benefit from a subsidised lifeline tariff, which is designed to keep electricity affordable for those with minimal usage.

“The perception that electricity is expensive is subjective. If you turn on five or ten bulbs that are 5 watts each, that is about 50 watts. If you ran them for 20 hours, you would still be within the lifeline category. That would just be about a single unit, which costs roughly Ksh 12 and about Ksh 16 with taxes,” Siror said.

However, the CEO noted that households consuming more than 100 units per month are automatically moved to the more expensive domestic ordinary tariff — a shift that significantly reduces the number of units a fixed amount of money can purchase. This transition often catches consumers off guard, particularly those who increase their electricity use without realising the tariff implications.

Infrastructure and Green Energy Investment Drive Up Costs

Beyond tariff structures, Siror pointed to the enormous capital investment required to build and sustain Kenya’s national power grid as a key contributor to electricity pricing. Transmission lines, transformer stations, and last-mile distribution networks all represent costs that are ultimately reflected in consumer bills.

Kenya’s reliance on geothermal energy — while environmentally commendable — also adds to production costs, the CEO explained. Geothermal plants require significant upfront infrastructure investment, which factors into the unit cost of electricity generation.

“If you look at electricity infrastructure, it reaches your doorstep. Putting up and maintaining that infrastructure is quite expensive. Much of our energy is green, like geothermal, which requires significant investment,” Siror said.

Energy-intensive appliances such as water pumps, swimming pool systems, and multiple high-draw devices also naturally push consumption higher, he added, moving households further from the subsidised lifeline bracket and into higher billing tiers.

Automatic Deductions for Outstanding Bills Reduce Token Units

The Kenya Power CEO’s remarks follow a wave of customer complaints in February 2026 regarding a sharp drop in electricity token units received per purchase. In one widely cited example, a customer reported that Ksh 3,000 — which had previously purchased more than 115 units — now yielded only around 94 units, a reduction of over 20 units within a single month.

Kenya Power responded to those complaints on February 25, clarifying that the shortfall is partly explained by an automatic bill recovery mechanism built into the prepaid token system. Under this policy, up to 20 percent of each token purchase may be deducted to offset a customer’s outstanding electricity arrears before the remaining balance is converted into usable units.

In practice, this means a customer paying Ksh 3,000 for tokens may have approximately Ksh 600 redirected toward clearing pending bills, leaving only Ksh 2,400 to purchase actual electricity units — fewer units than the customer expects, and fewer than they received in previous months when no arrears were outstanding.

What Kenyan Electricity Consumers Should Know

The combination of tariff reclassification, infrastructure-linked pricing, and automatic arrears recovery creates a layered cost structure that many consumers may not fully understand when recharging their meters.

Customers who have seen their token units drop are advised to check their billing category with Kenya Power to confirm whether they have been moved from the lifeline to the domestic ordinary tariff. Those with outstanding balances should also account for the automatic deduction policy when budgeting for token purchases.

Kenya Power has urged customers experiencing persistent billing concerns to contact its customer service channels for personalised account reviews.

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