Kenya Power has directed customers of its prepaid power plan to update their meters, commonly known as token meters, by August to continue accessing electricity.

The power provider says the update is part of an ongoing global update of all prepaid meters that use the Standard Transfer Specification (STS) to ensure the security of generated tokens.

“A total of 7.4 million prepaid meters are targeted for this exercise. All prepaid meters that will not have been updated by the deadline date will stop accepting the tokens after the deadline date,” Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror said on Wednesday.

Kenya Power said customers will receive two codes via SMS from Kenya Power when they purchase electricity tokens.

“They will be required to key the codes to their meter following the steps indicated in the SMS before loading the new token,” said Dr Siror.

“In other instances, the company will send the codes directly to the customers who haven’t purchased tokens to notify them to update their meters. The process is simple and free.”

Kenya Power said the update will not affect existing electricity tokens already loaded into power meters.

Customers have however been advised to load any previously purchased tokens before updating their meters.

Failure to do so will render the power units invalid, Kenya Power said.