Kenya Power Announces Disruption Affecting Payments
The utility company said the issue, caused by a system interruption, has impacted thousands of customers trying to purchase prepaid electricity tokens.
Marvin Chege 
Kenya Power has issued a public notice alerting customers to a system glitch disrupting electricity bill payments made through its paybill number 888888.
The utility company said the issue, caused by a system interruption, has impacted thousands of customers trying to purchase prepaid electricity tokens.
In a statement dated Monday, May 12, 2025, Kenya Power assured the public that its technical team is actively working to fix the problem, despite not giving a time frame on when the digital service would be back.
"We would like to inform our esteemed customers that we are currently experiencing a system interruption that is affecting the payment of electricity bills through our Paybill 888888. We are working to restore normalcy as soon as possible," the notice read in part.
Kenya Power building in Nairobi CBD. /KENYA POWER
Meanwhile, customers have been advised to make payments at Kenya Power banking halls nationwide until the system is restored.
The company apologised for the inconvenience and urged customers to rely solely on official communication channels for updates.
"In the meantime, we encourage our customers to make payments at the Kenya Power banking halls located at various points across the country," added the notice.
Customers can also dial *977# for services or assistance. Spot checks by Viral Tea, however, confirm that the paybill 888880 pre-pay services are still functional.
The postpaid system has been around longer than the prepaid token setup, but Kenya Power is moving to phase it out entirely in favour of the token-based model.
In 2024, the company revealed that its 2.1 million postpaid customers brought in Ksh120 billion, making up 63 percent of its total revenue.
Still, despite this significant contribution and the fact that most large-scale consumers prefer postpaid, the company plans to transition all users to the prepaid system.
"All rural customers will be on the prepaid metering system and will be transitioned to smart metering in the long term," a 2024 report by Kenya Power read.
It’s worth noting that system glitches at Kenya Power aren’t unusual, though the company typically responds quickly, especially when a large number of customers are impacted.
On February 15, 2025, reports of delays in the generation of tokens purchased through pay bill numbers were confirmed by Kenya Power, stating this was caused by a technical issue.
Many frustrated customers at the time shared that they had been waiting for their tokens for over two hours for a process that typically takes only a few minutes.
