Kenya Power to Compensate Customers for Blackouts Under 2025 Draft Laws
Kenya Power and other electricity licensees will soon be legally required to compensate customers for blackouts, poor-quality power supply, property damage, financial loss, injuries, and even loss of life, under new draft regulations published by the Ministry of Energy.
The proposed Energy (Electricity Reliability, Quality of Supply and Service) Regulations, 2025, unveiled by Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi, are anchored in the Energy Act, 2019. They aim to strengthen accountability in the power sector and guarantee consumers more reliable services.
Compensation rules
According to the draft regulations, power distributors will be required to compensate customers where outages or supply problems occur due to negligence or avoidable faults. Customers must report breaches within 30 days and file claims within 12 months for consideration.
Compensation will be issued within 90 days after determination and reflected in customer accounts—either as deductions from postpaid bills or extra prepaid tokens.
However, licensees will not be held liable in cases involving vandalism, third-party interference, or unavoidable force majeure events such as natural disasters. Consumers will also not be compensated for faults occurring on their side of the meter or for short interruptions that do not significantly affect supply quality.
How compensation will be calculated
The Ministry of Energy has also proposed a computation framework, with payouts varying by customer category and the nature of the disruption:
- Small households (DC1, SC1): Up to KSh 2.90 for unplanned outages and KSh 3.75 for planned outages.
- Commercial customers (CI1): Up to KSh 30,118.30 for unplanned outages and KSh 40,157.70 for planned outages.
- Industrial customers: Up to KSh 734,079.80 for planned outages.
Compensation may also cover property damage, financial losses, bodily injuries, or death, provided supporting documents such as receipts, valuation reports, medical records, or death certificates are submitted.
Submitting claims and appeals
Kenya Power will be required to accept both written and verbal claim reports, with the latter documented in writing by the company.
Customers dissatisfied with compensation outcomes can appeal to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), and if still unhappy, escalate the matter to the Energy and Petroleum Tribunal.
All records of compensation claims will be retained for seven years to ensure accountability.
Public frustration over bills
The draft laws come at a time of growing frustration among customers over high and unexplained electricity bills. Recently, a Nairobi resident sparked uproar after claiming he received a KSh 224,117 bill for his two-bedroom house in August 2025, despite raising a similar complaint earlier in April when charged more than KSh 20,000.
Kenya Power responded by requesting his meter details for investigation, though the customer said he had already submitted them. The incident triggered widespread reactions from Kenyans, many sharing their own stories of inflated bills, faulty meters, and irregular token consumption.
The utility has since explained that variations in token allocation depend on tariff categories but did not directly address the specific case.
What’s next?
The proposed compensation framework is still at the public participation stage, with Kenyans invited to submit views before the regulations are finalized. If passed, the rules will apply across the entire electricity chain, including generation, transmission, distribution, and retail supply—both on-grid and off-grid.
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Kenya Power to Compensate Customers for Blackouts Under 2025 Draft Laws