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Meknes – Minister of Energy, Mines, and Environment Aziz Rabbah said on Monday that Morocco’s National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) received approximately 6,000 complaints during the COVID-19 lockdown. During a session at the House of Councilors, Rabbah said 20% of complaints were about invoicing, according to Morocco’s state media.
ONEE promised to revise the exorbitant prices on electricity bills issued between March and April after a fierce campaign that consumers launched on social media.
Rabbah spoke of a new prepayment method, the implementation of which is continuing despite the COVID-19 crisis.
On October 17, ONEE General Director Abderrahim El Hafidi launched the new commercial management system reserved for the office’s customers with new-generation prepayment meters.
Approximately one million subscribers have benefited from the service so far in its pilot stage, allowing them to better control their consumption, said Rabbah. ONEE will soon generalize the program, the minister added.
The project is part of ONEE’s strategy to strengthen its services nationwide, especially in rural areas. The new prepayment method will provide consumers promising functionalities, according to ONEE’s official website.
Customers will be able to recharge their electricity accounts at any point of sale throughout the country, at any time, without necessarily having a recharge card. The new-generation meters also enable customers to control their consumption in Kwh in case of loss of the recharge code.
Rabbah also said that setting the price of electricity takes place via rules and procedures the government sets, including input from an interministerial pricing commission.
The energy minister added that the national average ONEE bill amounted to MAD 91.2 ($10) per month.
To remedy high electricity bills, Rabbah suggests controlling consumption as the most effective way to reduce costs. He recalled that ONEE urged citizens to use energy-saving light bulbs. He noted that the office distributed no less than 14.1 million of these bulbs with the aim to reduce consumption, and therefore the electricity bill.
