Paying Our Utility Bills - A new experience.

So, today I paid our utility bills. Well, most of them - the phone bill wasn't ready yet.

Paying bills here is a bit different than what we're used to, but overall is probably a more cost-effecient system than the way we pay them back in the US.

You know how the process usually goes...the utility company prints the bill, they mail the bill, the mail person delivers the bill, you let the bill sit around for a few weeks, you write a check for the bill (or pay it online), the mailperson delivers the bill with payment, the customer center processes the bill, your check gets processed, etc.

Its much different here. First, of all we don't receive bills. You just know to go to the office on the day that the bill is due. How do you know that? I'm still not sure, but what I can say is that when I went today the bill was ready to be paid.

So, here's the process...

1. I went to the Electric office and showed the guard my bill. He showed me the line to stand in outside the building. There were 6 lines and probably each line had 20 people in it.
2. The guard let 2 - 3 people from each line into the office at a time.
3. When it was my turn, I went up to the counter with my receipt from last month's bill and they told me how much I owed for this month's bill.
4. I paid them in cash for the amount due.
5. They marked my bill paid and then gave me a receipt which I'll bring back with me to pay next month's bill.

The whole process took about 45 minutes.

While I was there, I asked them where to pay my water bill. They told me that I could pay it in the office next door. So, I went and stood in the line next door for about 20 minutes. I was so relieved that the line was shorter than the electric line and was quite proud to hand the person behind the counter my receipt from last month. However, he informed me that I had come to the wrong office. This office was for the people who live in a town about 15 minutes away. The office I needed was a 5 minute walk down the street. Fortunately, I knew exactly where to go, so off I went to the Kebele office.

When I arrived there, I found a line of about 50 people waiting to pay their bill, just like me. So, I waited in line. I waited for 45 minutes and then needed to leave to get back to the house, without having paid my bill.

This afternoon I headed back to the office to pay our water bill. This time there were only about 15 people in line in front of me and within 20 minutes I was at the window ready to pay. However, I was told that I had the wrong window. I could pay my bill at that window on the 1st - 5th of the month, but had to pay my bill at the other window on the 6th - 25th of the month. However, the date was according to the Ethiopian calendar and not the European calendar. I can't even tell you what date it is on the Ethiopian calendar (my bad!)
Fortunately, there were only a couple of people in front of me in the other line, and someone took pity on this poor ferenj who had never done this before and who had no idea what day today was on the Ethiopian calendar.  He was super helpfu in making sure I got served.  Ethiopians are so kind in helping foreigners navigate their system!!

So, now the bills are paid, and it doesn't have to be done again for another 30 days!

I tried paying our phone bill - but will have to stop back on Thursday - apparently I was too early and the bill wasn't ready yet. I've never been early in trying to pay a bill before.

So, while paying bills here may not seem like the most effecient use of time...I do think it may be a very cost effective solution!

Note #1: After paying our bills I have been informed that there are bill collectors who for a commission would go pay our bills for us.
Note #2: In case you are wondering, today is 3rd day of the 5th month, 2002 here. I guess I did have the right window after all!