The State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) has said that the electricity bills in Ramadan hiked owing to higher usage and coinciding with hot season.
Despite the discounts levied during the Islamic holy month, electricity bills for the month had gone significantly up across local households.
The government announced 10% discounts on both electricity and water bills for local households in Ramadan. However, many have been criticizing the hiked bills despite the promise of discounts.
Some individuals have also complained that their electricity bills had gone twice up from other months.
In response to these concerns, STELCO’s media correspondent, Ahmed Mohamed said the bills surged due to Ramadan coinciding with the hot season in the Maldives. He further noted that electricity usage in general increased at two different time intervals everyday during Ramadan, which was around afternoon and post Isha [late evening] prayer.
The official also explained that discounts differed across customers based on their electricity usage for the past nine months.
STELCO had also assured that it would generate an average bill for Ramadan which would not exceed the amount in other months. The said average bill would be calculated based on the average consumption of the past nine months.