No ‘estimation’ of electricity bills, Meralco assures

In response to “Meralco’s guessing game, part 2?” by Jaydar Medrozo from Cebu (Letters, 8/26/20), we would like to reassure our customers that we will NOT do any estimation of electricity bills. In fact, Meralco has not issued any estimated bills since the second half of May. All bills issued since then were already based on actual meter reading.

Meralco’s meter reading operations will CONTINUE during the ongoing pandemic, assuring our customers that they will only pay their actual kilowatt-hour consumption.

With regard to the “bill shock” pointed out by the author, Meralco continues to offer customers multiple options, including an installment plan, in settling their accumulated bills.

It is also important to note that Meralco has already implemented pro-ration of consumption to ensure equitable billing, as suggested during recent House of Representatives hearings. This means that all electricity bills will be based only on actual readings.

In addition, we have extended the grace period for disconnections, to give consumers breathing space in this time of pandemic. Meralco made the announcement after the hearing conducted recently by the House committee on good government and public accountability. We have declared that the suspension of issuance of disconnection notices and disconnection of services due to unpaid bills is extended further and will now be on hold until Oct. 31, 2020, for the benefit of consumers, giving them more time to prepare and settle their accounts.

On the author’s issue of “high electricity cost,” Meralco continues its multiple initiatives to bring down the cost of electricity. Most recently, around 3 million consumers of electric cooperatives nationwide will be given financial relief totaling P101 million.

Lifeline consumers, or those consuming less than 50 kilowatts per hour, will enjoy a reduction in the distribution charge. These lifeline customers comprise around 40 percent of all Meralco consumers. This will not be a pass-through charge but will be a direct foregone revenue of the distribution company. These customers will receive a discount in their distribution charge, and Meralco will give this as an additional credit in their coming bills.

Meralco has also continued its aid to the business sector with the suspension of the guaranteed minimum billing demand charges for SMEs and large business customers during the ECQ/MECQ/GCQ period of March 16-Aug. 31. This translates to P2.69 billion electric bill savings for business customers.

On top of this, Meralco continues to shoulder the convenience fee for Meralco online transactions until the end of the GCQ period. Convenience fees previously collected beginning March 16 have been completely refunded to customers.

For the author’s knowledge, Meralco has actually announced five straight months of generation charge reduction, four straight months of overall rate reduction, and more than P1 per kwh decrease in the entire 2020 overall rate. Meralco continues its efforts to bring down generation charge during the pandemic.

Lastly, Meralco has invoked the force majeure (FM) provision in its power supply agreements (PSAs). For the past five months, the savings from FM claims have reached around P1.9 billion. Notably, Meralco’s new PSAs also led to around P4.8 billion worth of savings for consumers as of June 2020.

In summary, we would like to assure our customers in the Meralco franchise area that meter reading operations will continue despite any ongoing quarantine status. We will find ways to ease the burden of consumers during this time of pandemic, providing them convenient options to pay their bills.

JOE ZALDRRIAGA
Spokesperson and Head of Corporate Communications
Meralco