Over surcharged

I understand the need for the electricity surcharge and I doubt a future labour government will be able to reduce it.

What I find unacceptable is the new way in which the electricity bills are being calculated. Enemalta doesn't send a meter reader regularly but instead calculates a perceived rough estimate of how much the bill should be. If the surcharge rate was fixed it would not be much of a problem since what you pay extra or less in one bill could easily be redressed to the last cent in the next. But in a situation where the surcharge rate changes from one month to the next, the consumer is being made to pay a surcharge on electricity he never consumed.

If a consumer consumed Lm60 worth of electricity at 60 per cent surcharge but the estimate was Lm80 at 60 per cent, the consumer will be made to pay a 60 per cent surcharge on Lm20 which he never consumed. The Lm20 will be redressed but the extra surcharge paid never will since the rate will be a different one the next time the bill arrives. New bills are only calculated on the new surcharge rate regardless of previous rates.

This situation is made even worse when one realises that (mysteriously so) the rough estimate is high when the surcharge rate is high and it is low when the surcharge rate is low. Do your own maths and see how much extra surcharge you are being made to pay! The meter needs to be read every time the surcharge rate is about to change.