I took some time off work on Tuesday morning to get my electricity issues sorted out. I had planned on going all the way to Nairobi and waiting in a line for hours at the KPLC office. I decided to stop by Westlands to pay my rent and mentioned my problems with electricity to one of the guys there. Almost immediately he produced a large fuse (“Is that something behind your ear?”) and said it would do the trick. “Can you meet me at your house in 30 minutes?” Sawa sawa (ok)!
Because I had long-since paid said bill, I showed him my electronic receipt to make sure we could both rest assured that what we were doing was (semi) legitimate — but I’m not sure that counts. It all went down like he said it would, and I was back in action just like that! Six days without electricity and all I had to do was buy a $3 fuse? What the hell was I thinking? As long as you haven’t gravely offended KPLC (I merely forgot to pay my bill, and had my fuse removed as a consequence), just pay some fundi (handy man) a few hundred shillings (a few US dollars) to bring a fuse over and get you back into the 21st century.
Note: I am not a lawyer but that is my humble opinion.
That is pretty sneaky of the electric people; luckily you found this out sooner than they expected…another lesson learned about sharing a problem to find a solution. It has been an age since I’ve have checked your blog, it seems, and I kick myself for it because I love reading it. Andy and I are both doing well and so is Muggins.
I was living in college housing my first year in Ethiopia and they didn’t pay the electricity bill and I was heading home and there was a guy up the pole disconnecting the electricity. I think I scarred him for life. I had one of my friends make sure he didn’t disappear anywhere, ran to the college to find someone who could go to town to pay the bill and then waited for the call from ETC that it was paid so that my electricty wasn’t cut. And the guy stayed up the pole the entire time. I think he was scared by the crazy ferenji.