Thousands of Kenya Power customers were unable to purchase prepaid electricity tokens on Thursday morning after mobile money payment services experienced repeated transaction failures.
The disruption was reported by several Kenyans from around 6:00am, leaving many households and businesses unable to top up their electricity accounts despite having sufficient funds in their mobile money wallets.
A spot check found that customers attempting to buy prepaid tokens through mobile money platforms received error messages indicating that the transactions could not be processed.
One customer attempting to purchase tokens received a message stating: “Transaction failed; we cannot complete payment of Ksh3,000.00 to KPLC prepaid. Please try again shortly.”
Other users attempting payments through mobile money applications were met with notifications saying, “Your transaction failed. System internal error. Please select another payment method.”
The payment failure affected numerous customers, with some reporting that they had attempted multiple times to purchase tokens without success.
The disruption caused frustration, especially among customers whose electricity units had run out and were unable to restore power by purchasing new tokens. Some households and businesses were forced to remain without electricity despite supply having already been restored in many areas.
Kenya Power had not issued an immediate explanation regarding the token purchase challenges, leaving affected customers seeking answers over the failed transactions.
The payment disruption came just hours after the country experienced a major power outage on Wednesday night, July 29, affecting Nairobi, Central Kenya, the Coast region, and parts of the Central Rift Valley.
The blackout was triggered by what Kenya Power described as a technical disturbance on the national electricity grid, with the outage beginning at around 8:30pm.
Engineers from the power distributor launched restoration efforts later that night, gradually reconnecting affected areas. Power supply was restored in phases, with most regions returning to normal after several hours.
The token payment challenges added to the frustrations of customers who had already experienced disruptions from the nationwide blackout, highlighting the challenges that arise when electricity supply and payment systems face interruptions at the same time.