In a scene that seems close to bitter sarcasm, the Electricity Corporation in Lahj Governorate a few days ago issued an official invitation to citizens to pay electricity consumption bills, despite the frequent outages that residents suffer from on a daily basis. This call has raised the dissatisfaction and astonishment of many citizens, who believe that paying bills for a service they do not receive regularly, or sometimes do not receive at all, is illogical and doubles their suffering.

At a time when Lahj is witnessing continuous power outages, as some areas go for long hours without any electrical supply, the Corporation is asking citizens to pay what they consider “darkness bills.” Residents express their extreme dissatisfaction, wondering how they can be asked to pay for a missing service in light of difficult economic conditions and high temperatures that make life without electricity a daily hell.

Citizens believe that the Electricity Corporation needs to reconsider its policies and provide realistic solutions to improve service before demanding payment. They also called for improving infrastructure and providing electricity in a sustainable manner, instead of bearing the costs of continuous failure to provide service.

On the other hand, the corporation justifies these calls by the need to collect revenues in order to pay the salaries of its employees and maintain the electrical network, but it finds itself facing popular anger that is escalating day after day. Despite these justifications, the citizen remains torn between the hammer of a power outage and the anvil of constant demands to pay service bills that he does not benefit from, in a scene that can be described as “the evil of calamity is what laughs.”