Meralco no longer waiving P47 convenience fee for payments thru app

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is no longer waiving the P47 convenience fee charged to customers when paying their electric bills through its mobile application.

Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Legal and Corporate Governance Office William Pamintuan made the remark during the virtual meeting of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on Tuesday.

According to Pamintuan, the waiver of the convenience fee was made only during the period of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and in surrounding areas covered by Meralco when their business centers and other payment channels were "unduly restricted."

"However, because we have already opened under the GCQ most of our business centers and other payment channels are now available to consumers, the waiver of the P47 was effectively ceased," he said.

"Our consumers now have options in terms of how to pay their bills. And because of the opening of our business centers, the waiver will not be effective anymore," he added.

Metro Manila transitioned into GCQ on June 1.

Launched in September 2018, the Meralco mobile application serves as an additional 24/7 online payment channel for customers, allowing them to file service applications for both sales and after-sales, view their account, billing, or payment records, report outages/concerns, and access other value-added services.

Meralco bills paid via the Meralco mobile application go through a payment gateway operated and maintained by PayMaya which is linked to the Visa and Mastercard networks.

Meralco president and CEO Ray Espinosa earlier explained in a letter to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi that PayMaya charges the Meralco customer a convenience fee of P47, and that no part of the amount goes to Meralco.

During the House panel meeting, Quezon City Representative Onyx Crisologo asked Pamintuan if Meralco could still continue waiving the convenience fee, considering that even if the quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila have been eased, public transportation remains limited.

"Siguro, if you might, maliit lang naman na convenience fee. Actually hindi nga siya lumalabas na convenience, parang pagdadagdag sa babayaran ng tao, baka naman pwede tayong, tutal GCQ pa tayo, if we can still waive the convenience fee," Crisologo said.

"We would take that good suggestion of the good congressman into consideration, and we'll discuss it with our management," Pamintuan told Crisologo.

The House panel hearing was conducted amid the sudden spike of the electric bills of Meralco customers.

Meralco has advised its consumers to wait for new bills to be issued before settling any payment. -NB, GMA News