Muscat: The newly-formed Authority for Public Services Regulation has issued a statement on social media reports regarding high electricity bills received by some subscribers.
The authority said it has contacted all companies licensed to provide electricity service and emphasized the need to respond to all inquiries related to bills that satisfy the subscribers.
“The companies shall not cut the service in the event of a complaint until the issue is resolved.” It may be not that electricity subscribers across the country have been reporting about inflated bills over the past month. One of the arguments
includes that the meter reading is not taken every month.
“I have contacted the concerned company, but I am not satisfied with the mechanisms applied to calculate the bill, especially the time period.
The authority should review the mechanism for issuing electricity bills and adhere to the time period so that the pricing does not differ,” said a subscriber.
“They must be more transparent and fair when dealing with a service that has been described as essential to society,” a subscriber told the Observer.
“Every company that provides electricity service must provide a specific platform for subscribers to send the monthly copy of their meter reading to the person concerned in that company. It is unfair for the consumer to get a high bill because the reading is not done regularly.” The authority said the rights of subscribers are guaranteed by the laws, regulations, and licensing conditions that regulate the
electricity distribution companies in the Sultanate.
The authority said it carefully following what is being circulated these days on social media platforms from the observations of some subscribers about the high amounts
of electricity bills.
The authority has adopted special procedures to look into subscribers’ complaints of all kinds, including the mechanism and the time period required for electricity companies to deal with these complaints.
These procedures include that every subscriber has the right, in the event of his objection to the bill contents, to contact the service provider company in his area.
The company must respond to subscribers’ complaints and clarify the bill details and the method of calculating the bill amount in a manner that guarantees the
subscriber’s right.”
The authority urged subscribers to communicate with the company providing the service in the event of any objection or a request for clarification of the bill details. “Each subscriber has the right, in case he is not satisfied with the company’s
the response, to submit his complaint formally to the authority, which in turn, will work to review the bill calculation and guarantee the subscriber’s right.”
The authority has asked companies to review all invoices submitted by their subscribers with an objection to their details, in order to ensure that there are no reasons that may have led to an increase in the value of consumption. Provided
that the Authority verifies the audit of the companies and takes any regulatory measures in this regard.
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