Kenya Power earlier in the month cracked the whip on estates in Nairobi Southlands which have illegal connections starting with Embakasi and Tassia.
In a statement, the Power distributor confirmed that more than 20 flats in Nairobi's Tassia Estate had been disconnected in a sting operation following increased cases of vandalism and illegal connections.
Some parts of Enterprise Road also got disconnected in the operation that has seen the company increase surveillance and stiffer legal penalties after getting hundreds of millions of shillings in losses.
This has enabled the power company to reduce the number of vandalised transformers by 40 percent from 222 two years ago to 133 last year.
Regional manager of Nairobi South area Aggrey Machasio stated: "In collaboration with the police, the company is carrying out operations to ensure that we eliminate illegal connections, by-passing of meters and theft of our equipment."
[caption caption="Kenya Power technicians switch power lines"]
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Machasio noted during the Tassia crackdown that illegal power connections posed danger not only to the culprits but also to beneficiaries.
Illegal power connections have been blamed for causing outages and undermining the quality of power supply and also denying the utility firm revenue.
The Energy Bill 2017 suggested a steeper minimum fine of Ksh1 million on homes and businesses that make illegal power connections and disconnections besides a jail term of at least a year for the offenders.
The power firms were advised to also deal with their rogue officers if the fight against illegal connections is to be successful.
Officers assigned the responsibility of connecting customers must be vetted thoroughly and constantly monitored on the job so as to ensure only those with high integrity handle the task.
[caption caption="Aeriel view of Nairobi estates"]
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According to statistics by the World Bank, Kenyans stay without power for 25 days a year on average due to blackouts.
