President Mohamed Muizzu has received renewed criticism for a social media post made in 2021, while he was Mayor of Malé, regarding the high electricity prices by Stelco — The criticism and anger come as residents express outrage over last month’s higher-than-average electricity bills posted by the state-owned utility company.
As households received their electricity bills, many posted images of the bills on social media, stating they had increased significantly over the previous month, with some staging a protest near Stelco.
Frustrations were further aggravated when the post by the president, made while he was still mayor of Malé, received revived notoriety.
“This month’s electricity bill is higher than most people in Malé can afford. Those in need are being made more vulnerable. People have to pay the bill with money they do not have,” the post made on 29 July 2021 said.
The social media post has now been reshared and reposted on several platforms, with many users firing back frustrated replies.
“What do we do now? Are you getting ready to give a discount and hail the generosity of the President?,” someone asked in reply.
“People who are living in distress, even if we bounce off the sky and the ground [in rage], the electricity bill still has to be paid,” said another reply.
While commenters said the President’s post was engineered to gain more support for his position at the time, some have went on to point our that he has “changed his tone” since taking office.
“The public has suffered a lot over the bills. Do you have no feelings at this time sir?,” one reply complained.
“Now your administration has also increased the electricity bill. How can the people pay the bill with money they don’t have after paying [their] huge rents? I believe you would surely sort this sir,” another frustrated reply to the president’s post read.
While most days of Ramadan were included in the previous month’s discounted bills, the most recent bill includes fewer days in Ramadan, which has prompted ever increasing complaints on social media about the increase in the May bill.
Stelco, in a social media post, said that customers can forward complaints regarding their bills to the company’s customer service department via 7788438, through WhatsApp or Telegram, as well as via emails to; billing@stelco.com.mv