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PUC sheds light on estimated utility bills procedure |13 April 2021

PUC sheds light on estimated utility bills procedure

Mr Zialor (Photo: Joena Meme)

Since the tightening of restrictions by the health authority in January in an effort to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 locally, all households were paying their utility charges based on estimates rather than the traditional physical meter reading.

Based on this practice, the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) received quite a number of complaints regarding mostly overpayment of water and electricity bills from customers who felt that they were being overcharged for their utility usage.

It was only early this month that the PUC resumed its meter reading process, adjusting customers’ charges based on their accurate usage for the past three months.

Estimated bills usually happen when the meter reader is unable to read a meter and the usage estimate is based on the household's previous usage pattern.

In the local context, the PUC has been estimating bills on the average based on the consumption for the last six months of last year.

Basically, the process entails taking the bills between July and December with the average usage being used as the estimated consumption.

Chief commercial officer for the PUC, Michel Zialor, noted that once they receive an actual meter reading, they will make the necessary adjustments to the last billing period so that the consumers only pay for the energy they have used.

He explained that in cases where the last bills were over-estimated and the consumers paid more than they needed to, the PUC will reimburse them in the form of an applied credit to their next bill.

Whereas in cases where the last bills were under-estimated and the consumers did not pay for all the energy they used, the charges will be added to their next bills.

Mr Zialor further added that estimating utility bills is not new since it has been used for a long time based on various factors.

This, he said, applied in situations where households are fenced, locked as well as guarded by dogs, making it impossible for meter readers to get access to the measuring device.

 

Roland Duval

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