Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has doubled its net profits in the year that ended June 30, 2022.
According to the company’s end-year results which was released on Thursday, October 27, KPLC’s earnings in the previous year shot down from KSh 1.5 billion to KSh 3.5 billion.
The impressive growth was attributed to growth in sales by at least 6.9 percent and improvement of 1.5 per cent in system efficiency.
The reduction in operation costs by use of strategic cost management initiatives was also attributed to the growth.
The other contributing factor was a 40.2 per cent increment in finance costs, attributable to the depreciation of the Kenya Shilling against major world currencies.
This resulted in a 37.5 per cent decline in gross earnings to settle at 5.12 billion compared to the previous trading period.
“Despite some curve balls, all our core business lines have registered remarkable improvement,” Acting managing director Geoffrey Muli said.
As earlier reported, board of Kenya Power is on the spot again over the delayed appointment of a new Managing Director following Bernard Ngugi’s exit in August 2021.
In an audit of the company, the Auditor General questioned the board’s failure to install a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) despite the completion of the recruitment process.
The Auditor General noted that the board was yet to explain why an appointment of the MD was yet to be done.
“The consultant (Deloitte Consulting) in a letter dated May 6 indicated that it had concluded the recruitment process and presented the results of screening, final interview and recommended candidates for consideration to the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. The consultant was paid full contract price of KSh 2.9 million
“However, no documentary evidence including reports of the consultant, evaluation results, recommendations of the consultant and Board minutes and resolutions on the matter were not provided on why an appointment of acting Managing Director was yet to be done,” read the audit report.
The Auditor General termed the funds used in the recruitment process as wasteful since the position is yet to occupied.
The officer of the AG also asked the management to provide required documents and information for confirmation on the same.
The board was also put on the spot over other irregularities including a KSh 9.98 billion expenditure during the 2021-2022 financial year without approvals from the National Treasury.
“There was no evidence that management has sought approval of the National Treasury for the supplementary budget as provided in the law,” the report added.
Other irregularities include gender inequality, irregular recruitment, irregular promotion, irregular procurement of goods and services, as well as non-compliance with guidelines on notice of board meetings.
