MPs Seek Halt to Power Cuts Over Disputed Bills

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

MPs are seeking to stop electricity disconnection when households challenge an unusually high bill, under a proposal lodged in Parliament.

The bill would bar disconnection over the disputed sum while a serious complaint is checked, provided the customer keeps paying an amount based on their average use during the previous year.

MP Khalid BuAnaq said the measure aims to protect customers without wiping out debts they genuinely owe.

‘The proposal is not aimed at exempting subscribers from paying what is actually due,’ Mr BuAnaq said. ‘It seeks to strike a balance between the ministry’s right to collect its dues and the subscriber’s right to receive a correct and clear bill.’

The proposal, filed by the Strategic Thinking Bloc, would amend Decree-Law No. 1 of 1996 on electricity and water through a new Article 5 bis.

It is sponsored by MPs BuAnaq, Zainab Abdulamir, Ahmed Al Salloum, Mohammed Al Maarifi and Hisham Al Awadhi.

Under the draft, customers would have to be warned electronically, or by another approved means, when their electricity and water bill rises unusually far above their average use in the previous year.

The warning would state the bill amount and, where known, explain why it had risen. The level at which a rise would trigger an alert would be fixed in the executive regulations.

Customers would also have the right to ask for their meter reading and consumption record to be checked. A technical meter test could be sought when a complaint gives serious grounds for doubt.

If the disputed amount stems from an estimated reading, or if there are serious grounds to suspect a reading error, wrong calculation or technical fault, electricity could not be cut off over that sum until the complaint has been checked and ruled on.

The customer would still have to pay an amount based on their average use over the previous year while the case is being dealt with.

If a mistake or fault is found to have pushed the bill up, the account would have to be recalculated using the correct consumption figure.

Money collected in excess would then be repaid or taken off later bills.

The executive regulations would spell out how complaints are filed, how meter checks are carried out, how average use is worked out and how bills are recalculated. They would also fix time limits for reaching a decision and require customers to be told the reasons for the outcome.