The Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency is studying some complaints from people who affirm that they have been falsely accused of using electricity to pay exorbitant fines. In its annual report for the 2007/2008 fiscal year, of which Al-Masry Al-Youm got a copy, the agency said the complaints it receives from citizens, shops and plants about the illegal use of electricity have become a phenomenon, especially in the Greater Cairo. Therefore, there should be rules for imposing fines on electricity distribution companies which did not respond to the complaints within the deadline.
The agency received 162 complaints against distribution companies (91 complaints technical and 71 commercial). The agency also received 12 complaints against the Egyptian Company for Electricity Transfer, Delta Sharm Co, the Rural Electrification Authority, and the Egyptians Company for Housing Development and Reconstruction. The agency also received 509 inquiries from individuals and distribution companies.
The report said that complaints about consumption bills have also become a phenomenon which must be solved, as distribution companies should appoint new workers to read counters so that consumption bills are accurately issued. With regard to the complaints about electricity supply, the report stressed the importance of establishing new rules in this regard. The rules relating to the improvement of the electricity transformers rooms are being amended, the Agency pointed out. The Agency said that the monthly recommendations made by the Committee on the Coordination of action between distribution companies and the Agency should taken into account. In addition, distribution companies should develop the necessary mechanism to respond to consumers' complaints within the deadline and inform the Agency of the actual number of complaints it received, so that the Agency can know the points of strength and weakness facing the electricity distribution sector in Egypt.
The Agency also called for reconsidering the relation between electricity and distribution companies and for reconsidering the way to stimulate the electricity police with regard to the discovery of violations of contract terms or the illegal use of electricity. The Agency says that, when it comes to such illegal use of electricity and these violations, electricity police should be replaced by some distribution companies' workers who have the experience to determine whether electricity is illegally used or not as is the case in the distribution and sale of natural gas. An official at the Ministry of Electricity said the complaints were received by the agency before the ministry introduced a new amendment to Article 31 bis that reduces the violations in some cases.
The new amendment, which was generalized to all distribution companies, stipulates that the violator shall not pay a fine on annual consumption unlike the old law, which stipulated that the violator would pay a fine on the basis of 12 hours a day for shops and 8 hours per day for houses for a full year. The new amendment also stipulates that a report shall be filed to the prosecution against the violator only after notifying him more than once of the real value of the electricity he consumed. The amendment gives the electricity police the right to file a report only about the violation, but the value of the violation shall be defined by a technical and commercial committee formed by the distribution company
