The government will be spending MVR 50 million to provide relief on electricity bills.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih earlier this week acknowledged that new restrictions implemented due to the country's COVID-19 situation would cause difficulties to the public, and announced the deduction on utilities to ease the burdens caused to the public. This includes a 40 percent discount on electricity bills and a 30 percent discount on water bills to all households for the month of May, and a 20 percent discount on utilities for businesses.
With these changes, electricity provider STELCO will issue a discount of MVR 26.4 millions on household bills and a further MVR 25.1 million on discounts for businesses. Both discounts together sum up to MVR 51 million. While STELCO also provides water services in some islands, deductions on water bills will amount to MVR 75,000 for households and MVR 61,000 for businesses.
Last year, the government gave a similar discount on utilities for the month of April and May.
