STELCO visits Male’ homes with high bills for energy audit

State Electric Company (STELCO) says that it has noticed some households in Male’ City and suburban Hulhumale’ with inexplicably high electricity bills, and has begun visiting the homes for an energy audit to identify the cause.

In a press briefing on Saturday morning, STELCO’s managing director Hussain Fahmy said that the electricity bills of 94 percent of the households in Male’ has gone down this month, compared to the previous month.

But the bills of six percent of households in Male’ City and 15 percent of the households in Hulhumale’ remain significantly high.

Fahmy said that both customers and STELCO itself needs to know the cause.

He said that STELCO’s teams have begun conducting house visits for an energy audit.

“We want to check the condition of these places, the devices that are used there, the type of air conditioning system, and the insulation situation of the whole apartment,” he said.

Fahmy said that the audit will help the company guide customers on what can be done to save energy.

“We are confident we will be able to provide a reasonable answer to households with high bills after the energy audit,” he said.

Public concern continues to mount over high electricity bills over the last couple of months.

At Saturday’s press briefing, STELCO acknowledged that while there are periodic spikes in electricity bills, especially in hotter months like April or during Ramadan, the prolonged high level of energy consumption is a new development.

The company said that customers are billed based on meter readings and insists that the energy usage is high.

It also said rejected claims that STELCO tampered with the power system.

“We have no doubt over our billing integrity,” said Fahmy.