State Electric Company (STELCO) on Monday announced that it will not resume taking fuel surcharge fees from electricity despite State Trading Organisation (STO) hiking fuel prices.
STO on Monday raised the rates of petrol and diesel by 57 laari (MVR 0.57) per litre and 53 laari (MVR 0.53) per litre respectively. This increase means that STO will sell diesel to STELCO at a rate of MVR 9.17 per litre.
If the diesel rate per litre exceeds MVR 8, the Energy Authority had sanctioned STELCO to levy three laari from every additional 10 laari.
However, STELCO’s CEO Ahmed Zuhoor revealed that President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has instructed the state utilities company against increasing the fuel surcharge.
“The president has guaranteed that he will not raise the electricity tariff for now. He does not wish to place any more difficulties on the citizens,” he said.
STELCO had been charging 35 laari (MVR 0.35) per electricity unit as fuel surcharge until July 1, when the company announced that fuel surcharge fees will not be included in electricity bills after the government lowered the fuel duty to five percent.
While STELCO has announced its decision to not charge fuel surcharge fees from electricity bills, the course of action to be taken by the other state-run utilities company, Fenaka Corporation, remains unclear.
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