Recently, a foreigner discovered that his electricity account in China had been continuously charged for electricity fees, despite having already left the country. What caused this issue?

最近，一名外国人发现他在中国的电费账户一直在收取电费，尽管他已经离开了这个国家。这是怎么回事？

On November 12, Huang Lin, the power grid manager at the Power Supply Center in Chongqing, received a call from the customer service hotline 95598. The caller, a foreign national, had noticed that even though he had left Chongqing more than a year ago, his third-party electricity payment platform continued to deduct electricity fees. The foreigner reached out to 95598 for assistance.

Huang Lin immediately called the foreigner , Mo Alim (pseudonym), to understand the situation in detail. It turned out that several years ago, when Mo Alim was working in China, he had rented a property through a leasing company. To simplify electricity bill payments, he had linked his account to a third-party payment platform. However, after returning to his home country, he forgot to unlink the electricity payment account. Meanwhile, the leasing company continued renting the property to new tenants after Mo Alim vacated it, and the electricity charges for the new tenants were still being deducted from Mo Alim’s third-party payment account.

黄林立即打电话给外国人，艾哈迈德·奥斯曼·莫阿利姆，以详细了解情况。原来，几年前，莫阿利姆在中国工作时，通过一家租赁公司租了一处房产。为了简化电费支付，他将账户链接到了一个第三方支付平台。然而，在他返回自己的国家后，他忘记了取消电费支付账户的链接。与此同时，租赁公司在莫阿利姆搬走后继续将房产租给新租户，而新租户的电费仍然从莫阿利姆的第三方支付账户中扣除。

Upon learning the full story, Huang Lin quickly checked the billing records in the marketing system and contacted the third-party payment platform. The platform's customer service team reviewed the payment history and, after verification by all parties, confirmed that from November 2023 to the present, Mo Alim had been charged for electricity a total of nine times, amounting to 5,490.16 RMB.

在了解了全部情况后，黄林迅速检查了营销系统中的账单记录，并联系了第三方支付平台。平台的客服团队审查了支付历史记录，并在所有方验证后确认，从2023年11月至今，莫阿利姆共被收取了九次电费，总计5490.16元人民币。

Huang Lin then contacted the leasing company to explain the situation. After verification, the company promptly processed a refund for the mistakenly charged fees and returned the deducted electricity charges to Mo Alim’s account on the same day.

黄林随后联系了租赁公司，解释了情况。经过验证，公司迅速处理了误收费用的退款，并于当天将扣除的电费退回到了莫阿利姆的账户。

"That's so thoughtful! I didn't expect that even though I’m not in China, this issue could be resolved so quickly," Mo Alim expressed his gratitude to Huang Lin via a network call and text message.“真是太体贴了！我没想到即使我不在中国，这个问题也能这么快得到解决，”莫阿利姆通过网络电话和短信向黄林表达了他的感激之情。

This incident serves as a reminder for everyone to regularly check the accounts linked to their utility and other service payments. By doing so, you can avoid unexpected charges and ensure your accounts are properly updated, especially if you've moved or changed services.

这一事件提醒每个人要定期检查与他们的公用事业和其他服务支付账户的链接。这样做可以避免意外收费，并确保您的账户得到正确更新，特别是如果您已经搬家或更改了服务。