Skopje, 14 March 2025 (MIA) — To stop overcharges on electricity bills due to the country's universal electricity supplier EVN Home not reading electricity meters and sending incorrect bills based on estimated instead of actual usage, the Association of Engineers of the Republic of Macedonia has filed a public interest motion to the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Highlighting the ERC's duty to ensure fair electricity billing practices and protect the consumers' right to be billed based on actual usage, the Association of Engineers has requested that monthly meter readings be made mandatory by amending the Rules on Electricity Supply.

In a press release, the engineers recall that the ERC changed its Rules on Electricity Supply on July 1, 2022, and introduced block tariffs and quarterly electricity meter readings.

This, they note, has led to unfair billing practices.

By estimating power bills, EVN Home can overcharge consumers, allowing the electricity supplier to unfairly collect up to EUR 2,000,000 in additional revenue per year, according to the engineers' estimates.

To prevent this unjustified revenue from incorrect billing, the public interest motion requests from the ERC to introduce a provision regulating cases when correct meter device readings have not been performed.

If a consumer's electricity meter has not been read, EVN Home should charge the consumer a Mden 420 power bill, which shows 0 kWh of energy usage. After determining consumer's actual usage by reading the meter device, the utility should send a corrected bill, charging for the actual usage between two readings, the engineers say.

The public interest motion has been filed based on Articles 3 and 4, and related to Article 2, of the Law on Acting Upon Complaints and Proposals ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia" no. 82/2008). mr/