Nairobi, July 30 -- Businesses and households have suffered losses and inconvenience following a technical glitch in Kenya Power's token vending system that persisted for more than 17 hours by Thursday afternoon.

The glitch, which began on Wednesday night after a widespread power outage, affected customers attempting to buy tokens via the *977# USSD code or the M-Pesa paybill. The purchase attempts were met with 'failed transaction messages instead of confirmation of their purchases.

"Transaction failed. M-Pesa cannot complete payment of Sh1,000.00 to KPLC PREPAID. Please try again shortly," read a message from M-Pesa.

Others received an 'internal system error' prompt directing them to try another payment method.

Unlike in previous in...