More than 50% of STEG customers have benefited from the debt rescheduling and electricity bill payment procedure, said Fethi Khalfaoui, Director of Collection and Energy Loss Control at the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company (STEG).
In an exclusive interview with AfricanManager.ar on Thursday, May 29, Khalfaoui explained that this new procedure aims, on one hand, to ease the burden on consumers and, on the other, to improve the financial situation of the company, where unpaid customer debts amount to 3,800 million dinars.
On another note, he assured that the national electrical infrastructure and grid are ready and fully prepared to meet the increased demand during the summer of 2025.
He further stated that “as part of expanding the beneficiary base of the accumulated debt repayment plan, the company began on May 19, 2025, to reschedule the unpaid debts of farmers, including low-voltage customers and those benefiting from the agricultural irrigation tariff, over a maximum period of seven years.”
“The application process will continue until September 1, 2025. Those wishing to benefit from this measure must submit a request to the relevant authorities,” he said, confirming that this measure concerns around 75,000 farmers whose debts amount to 150 million dinars.
He explained that years of drought and insufficient rainfall forced farmers to rely on irrigation through the electrical grid, leading to increased bills and a surge in unpaid debts.
Additionally, he noted that since last February, STEG has launched a debt rescheduling program for two million residential customers in payment default, with debts exceeding 700 million dinars.
“Initially, this category was included in the automated rescheduling system without the need for specific applications.
However, now, written requests are required to benefit from the debt rescheduling plans.
As of April 30, 2025, the company had received nearly 100,000 requests for cancellation or rejection of rescheduling plans,” he said.
He added that “later, the possibility of rescheduling was extended to small businesses and water companies, whose debts amounted to 100 million dinars.”
2.5 million beneficiaries of debt rescheduling
Fethi Khalfaoui confirmed that “in total, around 2.5 million customers are currently benefiting from the debt rescheduling plan, out of STEG’s total of 4.5 million customers. Over 50% of customers have benefited from this measure.”
While awaiting a formal and concrete evaluation of the measure in the first weeks of June, initial indicators are positive, with a slight improvement in revenue compared to 2024.
“We hope this measure will help alleviate the burden on customers and improve the company’s financial situation (…). We urge all types of customers to settle their bills or contact STEG agencies to regularize their situations and pay their debts in installments,” the official added.
