Payment of utility bills in Cairo

TELEPHONE

Telecom Egypt is the company that’s operates and offers both domestic / international (landline) telephony in Egypt. The company is supposed to deliver your bills home free of charge but be forewarned! The bills don’t land up very often…

The billing system is different for international and domestic bills. International calls are billed on a monthly basis while domestic calls are billed quarterly. The bills for both are printed in Arabic and no amount of explaining to the Telecom Egypt office in Maadi changed their mind about that!

Finally my landlord took pity on me and explained that domestic bill is one long piece of red and white paper printed in Arabic where I have to hunt for the final amount (learn to read Arabic numbers!) while the international bill gives the details of the numbers called.

For the domestic bill, you will now be billed every 3 months in January, April, July, and October.

While bills are supposed to be delivered home, they do not reach on time. So if you don’t get your monthly international / quarterly domestic bill, head towards the nearest Telecom Egypt and ask for the amount that you need to pay. They will not give you a duplicate copy of the bill but will tell you the amount and give you a receipt after payment. For expats living in Maadi, their office is located on Road 9 in front of the Maadi underground station.

To keep track of the bills pending, one can log on to Telecom Egypt’s website at the following link
http://billing.telecomegypt.com.eg/TEService/Arabic/Customer_Bill_Inquiry.aspx

Please remember

a/ Payment is supposed to be made within a month from the billing date.
b/ Payment made 2-3 months after the due date can be subject to penalty
c/ Failure to pay after a period of four months from the due date will result in disconnection until payment
d/ If the bill remains unpaid for 7 months, its gets disconnected permanently

ELECTRICITY

Cairo Electricity Production Company is the entity that supplies / distributes power in Cairo. Electricity bills are required to be paid on a monthly basis. A representative from the company visits every month with the bill and the payment is required to be made to him directly. He will give you a signed receipt for the payment. He will usually visit at least once again in the event you are not at home the first time around.

However, if you continue to miss him, head to their office located on Road 7 at Maadi, ask for the bill and make the payment. No prizes for guessing what happens if you don’t!