Sharjah: Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) has launched a new weekly billing system with four bill payment dates given to consumers every month, Gulf News has learnt.
Many residents said they received two bills in May in two weeks without any prior notification from Sewa. Gulf News could not immediately get official comments from Sewa.
However, the authority had messaged a section of consumers and also notified on its website about launching a new meter reading and bill generation system.
As per the notification on the home page of www.sewa.gov.ae, “the meter reading and bill generation system is going to be re-adjusted into four cycles”. On clicking the link, consumers are directed to the new bill cycle.
A screengrab from the Sewa website showing how the new bill cycles will work.
The table explaining the four cycles of billing and payment dates shows that meter reading has been changed from monthly to weekly [from 1st to 7th, 8th to 14th, 15th to 21st and 22nd to 28th]. The bill for each week is generated on the last day of meter reading and SMS and emails would be sent out to consumers during the next two days.
As per the new system, consumers will have to pay their bills on due dates fixed on 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of every month.
The table does not show what happens to the reading for 29th to 31st of every month.
Several Sharjah residents said they have been shocked and confused after receiving two bills. They said they could not understand the billing system and found the second bill way more than the first bill.
Roy George, manager of a residential building in Al Khan area, said tenants have complained about receiving two bills. “Everybody is shocked and confused. We are trying to get the information from Sewa on how this new system is going to work.”
Rakesh G, who lives in Al Nabba, said he had visited the nearby Sewa branch on Monday to pay the bill. “There were many people complaining about getting two bills. The staff there told us to pay only the first bill and told us to go to Sewa’s main office to enquire about the second bill. They did not explain about the new system.”
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said he was concerned about the bills going higher per week. “The second week’s bill looks like one months’ bill. It is more than double the first week’s bill. It is not clear how they are calculating it, especially the service charges.”
S. Prabhakar, who lives and also owns a salon in the emirate, said he was taken aback when he received the message about the second bill for both his home and shop. He said Sewa should explain to its customers about the working of the news system.
A resident in Al Majaz area said that he had already received two bills in two weeks. “I got a little over Dh550 bill in the first week which was almost equal to my last month’s bill but I was shocked when I got another bill of more than Dh800 on May 16. I went to Sewa but they told me to pay without any explanation. I don’t know what to do and who to ask. We feel helpless,” said, adding that Sewa offices are swarmed with people complaining about the two bills in two weeks.
He said making payments every week would be inconvenient for consumers, especially for those who still have not switched to the green bill using the e-services of Sewa. According to the Sewa website, the authority currently has some 450,000 e-service users.
