Electricity bill overloads for boarding students

By Lim Jia Ying

Each room in XMUM's dorm has its own electric meter.

Sepang: Monthly electricity bill has been reported to be abnormally high in hostels of Xiamen University Malaysia.

“For this month, my electricity bill has exceeded RM50,” said Jeryn, a student who lives in D4.

“The thing is, my roommate and I don’t often stay in our room,” she added.

Students will receive their respective electricity bill at every 1st of the month.

In XMUM’s dorm, every room will have its own electric meter. The readings of the meter are measured in kilowatt per hour (kWh), which will determine the respective bill and its total amount.

“There was one time when our electricity bill was RM362,” said Ming Wai, who used to live in D2.

“My roommate and I were totally shocked, and of course we went to complain about it,” he said.

“They have returned the money to us through bank in afterwards.”

When asked about her electricity bill, “It is affordable and reasonable for me. Normally it will not exceed RM10 for both my roommate and I. We switch on the aircon only during night,” a finance student, Jia Yee from D3 said.

“I am fine with the amount I need to pay. However, I heard that some fellows don’t need to pay their electricity bill at all, yet they can switch on their aircon for 24 hours,” said Pei Yun, a foundation student.

Jeryn had been constantly giving feedback to the school’s maintenance office with her roommate, Angela.

“We complaint about it for a total of five times, but the office has changed the feedback method by asking us to fill in online forms,” said Angela.

“However, I feel that talking face-to-face is the most effective way to give feedback,” Jeryn added.

Students will be charged with an extra RM10 if they do not pay their bill after a month.

The payment method for electricity bill has changed to online e-payment started from December 2018.