KARIBU KENYA - UNON - the United Nations Office at Nairobi

handful of residential areas.The vast majority of residents subscribe to one of
the city’s growing number of private garbage collection services, which
collect garbage weekly from residential suburbs (for about Ksh 7,000 per year)
or 2-3 times a week from business premises. The main service providers are
BINS Nairobi Services (Tel: 533088/532098), Domestic Refuse Disposal
Services (711810/723840), and Citibins (545979/555714).
Payment of Bills
Private tenants are responsible for the payment of electricity, telephone and
water bills.The first two are billed monthly, while the latter is billed quarterly.Water
bills must be paid at the Sewerage & Water Department at City Hall.
Bills for the other utilities can be paid at several locations: electricity at the
KPLC Pay Centres in Gigiri or at the Sarit Centre, Stima Plaza in Parklands,
Adam’s Arcade, the Cooperative Banks at Ukulima House and University Way,
and the KCB Building in Jogoo Road; and phone bills at the Telecare Centres
on Kenyatta Avenue (opposite Nyayo House), at Westlands Shopping Centre,
on Ngong Road just past Dagoretti Corner, and at Nyayo Stadium. People
with personal accounts at Standard Chartered Bank can also now pay their
electricity bills through their ATM machines. While telephone bills can be
paid with personal cheques, electricity bills can only be paid in cash at some
centres. Despite major improvements in recent years, all public utilities are
occasionally prone to erratic billing or over-charging. However, it is relatively
easy to have a bill checked, by calling 32013201 or 243366 for KPLC or
32032000 for Telkom Kenya.
Transfer of Bills
Transferring a utility bill into a tenant’s name can be plagued with
bureaucratic hurdles and delays. The transfer of a telephone bill, for
example, involves writing a letter signed by both the line’s owner and the
new renter and presenting it to Telkom together with a cheque for Ksh
2,650, photocopies of the last bill, the renter’s ID and PIN form, and a
witness with copies of their ID. The transfer of an electricity account
requires a letter from the previous account holder, photocopies of your
ID and the last paid bill, together with a Ksh 2,500 fee.Water bills generally
remain in the name of a landlord or plot owner, although the address
can be changed to the P.O. Box of the leasee. There are a handful of
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