NO MARMITE IN TUNISIA

Bills To Pay
After browsing La Poste website and reading all of the information regarding the e-Dinar, I was convinced that this would be a far easier method of paying bills, than racing round in the 30 degree heat to get to whichever office I was going to, before they all went home for their siesta!  

Telling myself that I would be able to obtain an e-Dinar card from Beni Khiar Post Office, when the amount of Arabic words I know is zero, was another matter! 

However, encouraged by the fact that since coming to live in Beni Khiar, two employees who spoke a little bit of English were now working for the post office, and after several days of hesitating, the "pay before" dates were now looming, I decided to take my courage in both hands and test out the theory that the e-Dinar had been introduced in Tunisia to make everyone's life easier!

To my delight, I discovered that I had timed it just right, and the first available desk was manned by one of the English speaking employees.  From the post office literature I had never been able to decipher the difference between the e-Dinar (for the benefit of the Tunisians who use the French alphabet you need to pronounce it something like "ugh" dinar not "eey" dinar!) and the e-Dinar Universal.

e-Dinar Universal
Frequently switching between French and English, the employee urged me to obtain the e-Dinar Universal as it was far more superior to the ordinary e-Dinar, anyone could have one and it could be used for many tasks, including paying bills over the internet, withdrawing cash from DAB machines (translated in English as "hole in the wall!") or even purchasing goods in shops using it as a VISA Electron card. 

Hide It From Your Daughters!
Satisfied with his explanation, and after making a quick mental note that due to its VISA Electron facility, I would need to hide it from my daughters(!), I decided I did not need to enquire about the e-Dinar and went ahead to purchase one.  The process was simple.  I needed to produce my identity card (carte de sejour) which as usual, to my amusement, became the topic of discussion of the whole building!  What didn't amuse me quite so much was the fact that nowhere on the literature was the information that it would cost me 5 dinars!  The plus point was that this payment was a one-off payment; when coming to recharge your card you will not be charged again.  If I had paid my bills ordinarily over the post office counter, this would have cost me 4 dinars for each time I paid them, so I had made some kind of saving!

Payment Made Simple
Back home, payment of the bills over the internet was just as easy as had been promised.  Determined to improve my French I logged onto the French website as opposed to the English translated one and simply sailed through the whole process.  All that was required from me was a login and password to be used each time I paid the bills.  The fact that I needed to imput a different login and password for each different bill, I will never know whether that was my limited French or whether that was the way it was supposed to be!  The only other little niggle was that on each bill 300 millimes was added for tax, but upon paying these on the internet, this for some reason was charged again.

Conclusion
The e-Dinar Universal is supplied with 2 codes, a 4 digit one for withdrawing cash from DAB machines or an 8 digit one for paying your bills over the internet. 

Yes - Life for the Tunisians and expats living here has definitely been made easier

http://www.fatouranet.poste.tn/fn/home.jsp  
The Tunisian Post Office website page to pay the utility bills.

http://www.e-dinar.poste.tn/new/liste_bur_vente.html 
Link to your nearest post office.

http://www.e-dinar.poste.tn/new/dab.html 
Your nearest post office with a DAB machine.

http://www.e-dinar.poste.tn/cgi-bin/fr_new/blocage/blocage.cgi 
Link providing information on the security of your e-dinar card, offering the facility to block or unblock the card.

English Version Of La Poste Website
If you would like the e-Dinar explained to you further in English, (albeit with a few spelling mistakes!) the following link will take you to a website which gives brief details on how the e-Dinar works, what it can pay for, and how to open a virtual account online

http://www.e-dinar.poste.tn/index_en.html

Services From The Post Office