Sharjah: Sharjah residents, who were concerned about receiving two bills in two weeks, can now relax.
Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) has clarified that the new four-cycle meter reading and bill generation system does not mean that there will be four bills in a month.
Many customers in Sharjah received two utility bills as the authority has adjusted the existing gap between meter reading and bill generation, a spokesperson from the authority told Gulf News.
On Thursday, several residents had contacted this paper expressing shock and confusion after they received two bills in two weeks without a prior notice from the authority. Many of them had also complained that their second bills were way higher than the first bills.
Residents had said that they were confused about the new system of weekly meter reading and bill generation system. Gulf News could not receive immediate comments from Sewa on Thursday.
Putting their doubts to rest on Sunday, the spokesperson said: “It is not a weekly billing system for the consumers. We have designated bill collectors to go and take readings in different areas in four different cycles. Each area will come under separate cycle. Based on the cycle, meter reading will be done and residents will have to make payment only in their respective cycle.”
He explained that there used to be a long gap between the meter reading and bill generation in the previous system. “Earlier we used to take reading for the whole month. Whether the reading took place on the first or the 20th, the bill used to be generated only by the end of the month and customers were paying only by next month. So, we used to have a big gap between the reading and payment.”
With the introduction of the new cycle, he said, this gap between meter reading and bill payment has got reduced.
“When some consumers’ meter reading will take place from first to seventh of the month, we won’t wait till the end of the month to generate their bill. It will be issued in the next couple of days. They will not receive any bill till the same time next month. No consumer will have to pay the bills twice in a month from next month.”
By checking the dates on their bills, he said, consumers, who received two bills, can verify that their bills cover one month, although the billing cycle may fall in any weekly cycle.
“This month consumers falling in the first cycle received two bills. The first bill was for March and the second one for April.”
Apart from carrying the popup notification on its website about the change in the system, he said the authority had also notified customers who had registered their contact details with it. “Customers can put their account number on the website and check which cycle they fall in and plan their payment dates,” he advised.
The official also pointed out that the second bills were higher due to higher consumption of electricity because of the weather change. “The bills have gone up as per the usage because of the weather change.”
He said the authority is constantly trying to register the contact details of all the consumers through the green bill campaign.
