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Billed after settling final Dewa account!

DUBAI — Signboards hung and pasted in every conceivable space in the offices of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) declare the authority's mission — ensuring supply of safe electricity and potable water and offering efficient service to the consumers.

Ironically, however, ground realities speak a different story.

Complaints from consumers against Dewa's services continue to pour in, be it in the area of power supply or billing. Is it a case of negligence of staff or shortcomings in the system?

Khaleej Times sought to probe the complaints and took up the issue of H. Cayrala, a Canadian, as a sample case.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Cayrala revealed that he had shifted from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. "I moved to the capital after settling the final bills with all departments concerned including Dewa. I was, however, shocked when I discovered my mailbox was stuffed with Dewa bills even after I cleared my account," he said.

Inquiries with the billing department at Dewa, after hopping from department to department, revealed that in the case of Cayrala, the error occurred in one of the links in the chain of command that the process goes through for issuance of the final bill and subsequent settlement.

Saeedullah M. Saeed, Manager, Bill Control, conceded that a mistake had occurred, but insisted that it could happen to anyone since they were dealing with not just a few thousands of consumers but over 300,000 customers.

He said it was a mistake committed by the officer who should have deleted the name of the client once the dues against his account had been cleared.

Explaining the procedure for final bill, Saeed said a consumer requests for final bill go through several modes including personal visit to Dewa offices, letter or even through fax or e-mail.

Once the request for final bill is received, technicians are asked to obtain the final reading and disconnect power supply and this instruction is conveyed over phone. "We then inform the consumer that the final bill is ready for settlement," he said.

He said after the necessary action is taken, the message is conveyed to the office staff, which updates the billing system of the final bill clearance, again over telephone. Printed instructions are also issued to the disconnection section to delete the name and address once the formalities are gone through, he said, adding that list of such final settlements is subsequently checked manually to ensure deletion.

After deletion of name and address of the old consumer, the system automatically updates the name of landlord of the premises, if a new consumer has not registered with Dewa for the same account.

He said sometimes mistakes do occur because of the work load and the consequent stress that the staff undergo.

In the case of Cayrala, he said the staff missed his final bill settlement by oversight in the list meant for deletion.

Ahmed Mohammed Hassan, Acting Senior Manager, Billing, said: "We responded to Cayrala's complaint and investigated the issue immediately to ensure that it is rectified as also to avoid recurrence of such mistakes."