Kenya Power & Lighting (KP&L) gave us a bill in October charging us 1000 units above what we actually used (we are charged per unit used of electricity). Chuck called them several times to get someone to come and actually read the meter….each of the six calls he was told “someone will come.” But they never did and the last call we were told the meter had been read that day (which was impossible since he would have to come inside the children’s home to read it and no one ever showed up) and the new bill would again be 1000 units above the actual meter reading. Chuck told them we are a children’s home and cannot afford to pay these outrageous bills. To which they told him, “pay it or we’ll shut off your power.” After much “discussion”, they finally told Chuck to come to Nairobi and figure it out.
For those of you who know, that’s easier said than done….arrangements had to be made to get there, plus the cost of getting there and the time spent there (typically all day). We weren’t sure what could be accomplished in Nairobi but we had no choice. Arrangements were made to head into Nairobi on Monday and deal with KP&L. On our way I asked for prayers not only for our safe journey to Nairobi but also that our business would be handled according to God’s will.
Thank you for your prayers! When we arrived at KP&L we were immediately seated, a gentleman asked us the problem, he handed it off to another worker and within about 10 minutes the meter had been adjusted (we had the actual meter reading with us) and the bill was now reasonable (around 500/ksh instead of the 7000-8000/ksh they were going to charge us!) Plus we were told we could text the meter reading each month to ensure an accurate bill. Yea we are doing their job but if it gets us the correct bill, I’m all for that.
I have to admit it was quite a surprise to have an issue handled so quickly and efficiently. However, as I’ll write in future blog posts, the day had some very nice ups but one very frustrating down as well. I was thankful though that the ups actually helped immensely so that during the down we could still get home before dark!