Power utility CEM announced its arrangements for the “2022 Electricity Subsidy Measure for Households and Business Establishments” in a statement last week, with the subsidy set to benefit over 270,000 customers, or 98 percent of its consumer base.
The statement noted that the scheme is divided into two categories, namely “Households” (i.e., Residential Customers) with a 300 pataca subsidy per month and “Businesses” with a subsidy of 3,000 patacas per month. The distribution period, the statement underlined, will be from the billing months of June until November, with six months in total.
Unused subsidies during the distribution period “can be used within the billing months of December 2022 until May 2023 with the same monthly capped amount”, while unused balances of the subsidy will be discarded automatically after its usage period. The accumulated unused balance of the electricity subsidy will also be discarded automatically for the “cancellation or name change of power supply contracts during this period”, according to the statement.
The statement pointed out that the customers receiving the monthly 200 pataca “Government Subsidy” are the beneficiaries under the residential customer category. Each customer will receive 300 patacas a month according to the “2022 Electricity Subsidy for Households”, with its scope covering the month’s electricity fees, “including the four components which are demand, consumption, tariff clause adjustment and government tax”, while other fees such as late payment charge are not covered. It will be shown after the Government Subsidy on the bill.
Meanwhile, the “2022 Electricity Subsidy for Businesses” covers all business establishments except casino power supply contracts, hotels rated three-stars or higher and government entities. The statement underlined that customers will be subsidised for 3,000 patacas monthly, with its scope for Tariff Group A customers covering the month’s electricity fees, including “demand, consumption, tariff clause adjustment and government tax”. The statement said that the subsidy’s scope for Tariff Group B and C customers covers “demand, active and reactive energy, tariff clause adjustment and government tax”.
The statement said that the subsidy will be distributed in the following order: 1) Exemption from reactive energy charges (if any), 2) Storefront Advertising Support Programme (if any); 3) 3,000 pataca “2022 Electricity Subsidy for Business”.
The subsidy period, the statement noted, is based on the billing month, with each customer having a different subsidy starting date each month, meaning that it does not consistently start on the first day of each month.
Estimated bills, the statement added, should be avoided and CEM should be contacted to “report self-reading” or make an appointment for meter reading for the subsidy amount to be adjusted based on actual electricity consumption if estimated bills are received. The subsidy amounts will be shown on the bill as “2022 Elec. Sub. for Households” and “2022 Elec. Sub. for Businesses”.
Further details can be found on CEM’s Facebook and WeChat accounts, the website www.cem-macau.com, and CEM’s Info Line on 2833 9911.
This infographic taken from CEM’s official Facebook page provides information and instructions on the Electricity Subsidy for Households.
