{"id":118572,"date":"2025-07-22T13:05:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/22\/millions-lost-as-nairobi-water-fails-to-disconnect-nonpaying-users\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:05:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:05:26","slug":"millions-lost-as-nairobi-water-fails-to-disconnect-nonpaying-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/millions-lost-as-nairobi-water-fails-to-disconnect-nonpaying-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions lost as Nairobi Water fails to disconnect nonpaying users"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 22 \u2013 An audit into the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) has revealed that over Sh344 million was billed across 23,384 customer accounts in 2024, despite zero payments and no disconnections\u2014a lapse that lawmakers say has led to massive revenue leakage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Senate Public Investments Committee has called for deeper scrutiny of the utility\u2019s enforcement and billing practices after the audit also found over 10,000 active customer accounts that were never billed during the audit period.<\/p>\n

Committee Chair Senator Godfrey Osotsi decried the failure to disconnect non-paying customers, calling it a breach of public trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a customer does not pay for 12 months and you do nothing, you\u2019re either colluding with them or have abandoned your duty to the public,\u201d the committee chair said during a session on Monday.<\/p>\n

Nairobi Governor Johnston Sakaja acknowledged what he termed as \u201cinherited challenges\u201d and claimed reforms were underway, including improved enforcement and customer communication. <\/p>\n

Senators were however unimpressed.<\/p>\n

The Auditor-General confirmed that no evidence was provided during the audit to justify the lack of disconnections. <\/p>\n

Sakaja insisted records were submitted, blaming late responses on internal delays.<\/p>\n

Contested bills<\/h2>\n

The committee directed the Auditor-General to verify the disputed accounts physically and warned of further scrutiny.<\/p>\n

The audit also exposed a Sh547 million dispute with Kiambu-based water service providers over unpaid bulk water bills dating back to the 1970s\u2014liabilities inherited from the defunct Nairobi City Council.<\/p>\n

\nSakaja blames guard dogs, locked gates amid water bill manipulation concerns<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Sakaja also clashed with senators over a Sh1.7 billion regulatory fee demanded by the Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB), arguing that the non-profit utility cannot afford to continue paying high charges while many Nairobi residents still lack clean water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not running a profit-making company,\u201d Sakaja said. \u201cWe cannot afford huge regulatory costs while people in Kayole and Njiru suffer without water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senators concluded the hearing with a warning that NCWSC, flagged in the audit as a \u201cgrowing concern,\u201d could face further parliamentary sanctions if the issues remain unresolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not just numbers,\u201d Senator Sifuna said. \u201cThey represent failed service delivery to Nairobians. We will not let this go unpunished.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 22 \u2013 An audit into the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) has revealed that over Sh344 million was billed across 23,384 customer accounts in 2024, despite zero payments and no disconnections\u2014a lapse that lawmakers say has led to massive revenue leakage. The Senate Public Investments Committee has called for deeper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}