Kenya Power has announced that a total of 2 million prepaid token meters have been updated in the last three weeks since the public launch of the Update Token Meter Yako campaign. The meter update exercise targets 7.4 million prepaid meters, whose software must be updated to enable customers to continue enjoying access to electricity.
The Update Meter Yako campaign is part of an ongoing global exercise that targets all prepaid meters that use the Standard Transfer Specification (STS). This is a universal method to transfer tokens to prepaid meters that ensures the security of generated tokens.
The deadline for the update of all token meters has been set for the end of August 2024. To ensure that the exercise is carried out successfully, Kenya Power 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.
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 will render them invalid.
Commenting on the ongoing Update Meter Yako campaign, Kenya Power’s MD and CEO Dr. Eng. Joseph Siror said, “The numbers are encouraging and we are happy to note that our customers have taken the call to update their meters seriously. We are almost at 30% of the targeted meters, and we are optimistic that all our prepaid customers will have updated their meters by the 31st August deadline. The phased approach has ensured that the prepaid system is not overloaded with customer requests for the update codes.”