STELCO has stated that bills increased during Ramadan despite discounts due to coinciding with hot weather.

The government has given a 10 percent discount on both water and electricity bills this Ramadan.

With electricity bills increasing, some members of the public have been expressing complaints on social media.

A media official from STELCO told "One" today that Ramadan bill usage is high, and despite the Ramadan discount, bills increased due to coinciding with hot weather.

"Ramadan coincided with hot weather. In any case, usage will be high. There won't be any customer who doesn't receive the discount as decided by the government. Some people might have bills for a few days to update, which we've sent from here. There will be bills for 16, 17, 12 days for some people. Obviously, it will be higher if compared to those bills," the official said.

Highlighting the peak hours for electricity during Ramadan, the official said that 2:00 PM and after 8:00 PM are generally peak hours.

They noted that STELCO has observed high electricity usage during these hours in previous Ramadans as well, and that bills don't increase because of any particular government.

"This doesn't happen only this Ramadan. It happened last Ramadan, the Ramadan before, and the one after. Not just in this government, in the previous government too, bills increased and discounts were given. It's not because of something STELCO did. Bills increase because usage increases," the official added.

"STELCO will never have any kind of deception regarding bills. We bill based on usage. But when discounts are given, it won't increase. If billed based on usage, it will increase. We did it based on average as per the government's thinking. Newly started flats and places won't have a history, right? So those customers have been given a 10 percent discount. All domestic customers have been given the discount," STELCO said.