Utility Regulatory Authority Issues Report on Investigations of Spike in STELCO Electricity Bills in July

At the end of July, the issue around a sudden rise in the Electricity Bills sent out by State Electric company took to the news with public outrage. Utility Regulatory Authority took matters into hands upon noticing the issue and decided to investigate on July 30, 2021.  
 
Today, the authority has issued a report on its findings and declared several reasons why a spike was noticeable in the bills issued on July compared to the previous month. Findings support that STELCO has made no error in the bills and it was indeed caused by an increase in consumption during one of the hottest months of this year.  
 
During the investigation, close research was done with STELCO in analyzing the complaints filed, the response given by STELCO, and the usage statistics over the months. The following are the main reasons for the issue as reported by URA: 

• Bills were dated on average from June 10 to July 10, however, the bills were sent to customers at the end of the month. This was excluding the Eid Holidays too, which was in turn reflected in the bills received in August.  
• A government discount of 40% was applied to the bill issued during the month of May – June, which significantly reduced the bill amounts. The discount not being included in the bills received in July showed the difference.  

 
You can view the full report here.