Utility bills

I refer to two letters about utility bills by Mr J. Aquilina St John and Mr Jonathan Debono (The Sunday Times, April 9).

Mr Aquilina St John complained - together with other subjective comments about the meter reader's mannerisms - that his water and electricity bills are not being received soon after a meter reader's visit.

Consumers are, on average, receiving their bills every two months. The "time delay" between a meter reader's visit and the receipt of a particular bill is of no significant relevance, as long as it is not unreasonably long.

His allegation that the meter rents are a percentage of the actual bill is absolutely untrue. The meter charges for domestic premises are Lm12 per annum.

On the other hand, Mr Debono is concerned that consumers may be billed at a higher surcharge rate for consumption during a lower surcharge period.

We would like to assure consumers that all bills are "split" into different surcharge rate periods. For example, all last year's consumption up till October 31 was charged at a 17 per cent surcharge. Only consumption from November 1 onwards was charged at a higher rate according to the period concerned. This is done by calculating the number of days pro rata before and after a particular surcharge "changeover date".

Mr Debono also suggested that Enemalta introduce pay-per-use (or similar) systems. Consumers will be interested to know that both Enemalta and the Water Service Corporation are due to introduce online payment facilities in the very near future.

In the longer term, the two corporations are planning to introduce billing systems that would feature a number of interactive or 'smart' payment facilities linked with the proposed automated meter reading (AMR). This Integrated Utilities Business System will enable many more customer-friendly and efficiency-enhancing measures to be introduced.

The WSC invites any complaints or suggestions on Freephone 8007-2222 or on our Website www.wsc.com.mt.