The Kenya Power and Lighting Company in Kenya has two systems of electricity service across the country. You can have either a post or pre-paid meter. The latter system requires its users to purchase electricity tokens, which they then feed into their meters to use up to their completion. The prepaid system provides the benefit of budgeting and using electricity as one can afford. Safaricom, in cooperation with KPLC, came up with a way to allow users purchase said tokens using their bonga points. The two companies hope to help the millions of Kenyans that suffered income cuts following the pandemic. Here is a simple guide on how to do so.
What you will need
- A phone
- A Safaricom line
- Bonga points, where Ksh 1 is equal to 5 bonga points. Therefore, if you want electricity tokens for Ksh 500, you will require 2500 bonga points.
Steps to follow
- Go to your phone’s keypad and dial *126#. This prompt will take you to a new window with a list of options. Choose ‘Lipa na Bonga Points.’
- In the new options list, choose ‘Pay Bill.’
- Now enter the business number 888880 for prepaid meters.
- For the account number, input your meter number. Make sure to counter check the digits.
- Lastly, put in your service pin and submit the application. You will get the confirmation message and your KPLC tokens in a short while in form of a text message.
Bonus Information
- The Lipa na Bonga Points system is available to both prepaid and post-paid customers. The process of paying for electricity for post-paid customers is similar to the steps outlines above. The only difference is the Pay bill business number, which is 888888.
- Safaricom did not set a minimum or maximum amount of redeemable bonga points. You can however use the bonga points’ calculator, to figure out how much electricity tokens you will get from the points you have.
- To access the calculator, simply dial *126# then select ‘Lipa na Bonga Points.’ On the next window, select ‘Bonga Calculator. You will then have to enter the amount, in Kenyan shillings, of what you wish to spend. The calculator will convert this into Bonga points, and you will get to know how many points you need.
- When using the Lipa na Bonga system to get your electricity tokens, you do not need any extra amounts for transaction costs. KPLC only deducts the needed amount of bonga points.
- The Lipa na Bonga Points system is only available for Safaricom line holders.
- You can increase your number of bonga points by putting and using airtime on your phone. Each Ksh 100 you spend on airtime or bundles gets you 10 bonga points. This therefore means that the more active your Safaricom line is, the more bonga points you stand to collect.
- In case you do not have enough bonga points on your phone, you can easily use another’s phone. They can either transfer their bonga points to you, or directly purchase the tokens from their phones. If you opt for the latter, make sure to input your meter number and not theirs when prompted for it.