Safaricom to Bank $481-Million from Kenya Power Meter Deal

Kenya’s top telecom is set to make $481-million (Ksh53.5-billion) for installing smart electricity meters to Kenya Power’s largest consumers in a new deal meant to curb power theft, and electricity leakages while also fixing significant weaknesses on the utility firm’s transmission network, reports Business Daily.

Safaricom is planning on spending $281-million to install an intelligent system that will connect 333,300 electricity meters to a central location and track electricity use, power outages and load on transformers. The system will allow the reading of the meters remotely, as well.

The system will help bring down the share of electricity bought from generator firms like KenGen that does not reach homes and businesses, known as system losses, from 23.93% to around 8%, which will earn Kenya Power $644-million in additional revenue in the next eight years. Continue reading

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