KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — A veteran Chinese actress received a warning from China’s internet censors to remove a post complaining about her high electricity bills if she wants the matter to be resolved.
Ma Ling had posted her bills on Weibo after finding a sharp increase and this led to heated discussions among Chinese social media users, Vision Times reported.
The images, posted on October 23, showed her bill for July had shot up to 130,000 yuan (RM84,504) from the normal rate of less than 1,000 yuan (RM649) monthly.
According to reports, Ma had attempted to resolve the matter with the electricity provider but failed, leading her to go public with the issue.
To back up her claim, Ma posted her electricity bills for the same period in the past years.
The bill for July 2019 was 503.59 yuan (RM327.35), and had risen to 988.72 yuan (RM642.70) for the same month in 2020.
However, the bill for July 2021 increased to 135,570.16 yuan (RM88,105.42).
An hour later, despite no increase in her power usage, the bill continued to rise, reaching 152,468 yuan (RM99,109.81).
Not long after that, the actress, who debuted in the 1983 version of Journey to the West, received a warning from China’s internet censors, who demanded she remove the post if she wanted the matter to be resolved.
It is unknown if the spike in her power bill was caused by an error, or if it is connected with the energy price hikes and power cuts affecting most of China, including Beijing.
