By The Weekly Vision Reporter
In what could mark the beginning of the end for inflated bills and endless customer disputes, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has officially begun the nationwide deployment of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology for meter reading, a smartphone-based system that scans meter displays and eliminates manual data entry altogether.
The long-awaited rollout, which follows a successful six-month pilot in Nairobi beginning in March 2025, targets all eight regions of the utility’s operations and will eventually cover the country’s 1.8 million post-paid meters, the traditional analogue units that still require a physical reading each month. Kenya Power’s Commercial Cycle Manager, Mr. Richard Wida, described the initiative as a game-changer.
“Human error in manual typing has been one of the leading causes of billing anomalies,” he said. “With OCR, the meter reader simply points the phone camera at the display, the system instantly recognises the numbers, and the reading is transmitted accurately. It is faster, cleaner, and virtually eliminates mistakes.”
The move is being hailed as the most significant upgrade to post-paid billing processes in more than a decade and forms a cornerstone of Kenya Power’s broader digital transformation strategy. Customers who have long complained of estimated bills, transposed digits, or fraudulent readings may finally see relief. “This directly addresses one of the biggest pain points we hear every day,” Mr Wida acknowledged.
Perhaps more intriguingly, the utility has revealed plans to extend OCR capability to customers themselves. “In the near future, post-paid customers will be able to use the same scanning technology through the Mypower app or the *977# USSD platform when submitting self-readings,” Mr Wida disclosed. “It will make self-reading foolproof.”
The announcement builds on Kenya Power’s growing suite of digital solutions, which already includes mobile self-service platforms and smart meters for large power users, SMEs, and selected domestic customers. Unlike traditional meters, smart meters allow remote reading and even remote disconnection or reconnection, features that have significantly reduced the need for physical visits.
Industry observers see the OCR rollout as both a defensive and offensive strategy: defensive because accurate billing is essential to restoring public trust after years of customer backlash, and offensive because a modern, reliable service is increasingly crucial as Kenya Power faces emerging competition in the energy retail market.
With the first phase already underway and full national coverage expected in the coming months, Kenya Power appears to be sending a clear message: the era of “token errors” and “somebody misread my meter” may finally be drawing to a close. For millions of post-paid households, that will be very welcome news indeed.
