State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) has refused to disclose the total expenditure incurred on electricity bill discounts provided to domestic customers as a "Ramadan gift" during the last fasting month.
Despite repeated inquiries and messages from Adhadhu regarding the matter, STELCO has declined to provide any information concerning the costs associated with these discounts.
The decision to provide electricity bill discounts was first announced by President Mohamed Muizzu on November 14 last year. Muizzu said that domestic electricity bills for the month of Ramadan would be capped at a maximum of MVR 400, with any amount exceeding that figure being covered as a discount.
"For every domestic bill during the upcoming month of Ramadan, the maximum charge will be MVR 400. Only MVR 400 will be taken for each domestic rate bill next Ramadan. The remainder will be a discount," the President had said.
Finance Minister Moosa Zameer previously stated that the electricity discounts were a pre-planned initiative included in the state budget. However, due to fluctuations in fuel prices, it is expected that the government's expenditure on these discounts will exceed initial estimates.
Fuel prices rose significantly following the start of the conflict in the Middle East during Ramadan. The government is expected to bear a substantial financial burden to cover the discounts provided during the period.
During the previous year's Ramadan, a 10 percent discount was applied to electricity bills. However, following widespread public complaints regarding the implementation of that discount, additional relief was later provided on April bills as well.
In recent months, the public has continued to express concerns over increasingly high electricity bills.
In addition to the electricity discounts offered as a Ramadan gift, the government also distributed cases of canned tuna to households across the Maldives, following the precedent set last year. The government stated that it had prepared a total of 118,673 cases for distribution.
