Skopje, 24 March 2025 (MIA) — The Association of Engineers of the Republic of Macedonia will hold a meeting Monday with Energy Regulatory Commission head Marko Bislimoski to discuss overcharges on power bills due to the country's universal electricity supplier EVN Home not reading electricity meters and charging consumers based on estimated instead of actual usage.

The meeting comes after the March 14 public interest motion filed by the Association of Engineers of the Republic of Macedonia and the March 20 preparatory session of the ERC during which commission members proposed amendments to the Rules for Electricity Supply.

Considering that the amendments would "again allow illegal invoicing based on estimated consumption," the Association of Engineers "immediately submitted comments" and asked to meet with Bislimoski.

The association's representatives are expected to request that the ERC withdraw all legal provisions allowing billing based on estimated electricity usage.

They say they will also propose a fair billing practice in cases where the electricity supplier fails to read the metering devices.

Expressing their concern about the ERC members' impartiality and independence, the engineers note that "these irregularities date back to July 2022, when block tariffs for calculating electricity consumption were introduced."

They add that their public interest motion was prompted by numerous complaints from citizens regarding their unrealistically high power bills.

On March 14, 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 submitted a public interest motion to the ERC requesting that monthly meter readings be made mandatory by amending the Rules on Electricity Supply.

The engineers recalled that the ERC had changed its Rules on Electricity Supply on July 1, 2022, introducing block tariffs and quarterly electricity meter readings, which they said 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, the engineers estimated.

To prevent this unjustified revenue from incorrect billing, they also requested the ERC introduce a provision regulating cases when correct meter device readings had not been performed.

According to the engineers, if a consumer's electricity meter has not been read, EVN Home should charge the consumer a Mden 420 power bill showing 0 kWh of energy usage.

After determining the 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 association said.

The public interest motion was 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/