MWSS orders Maynilad, Manila Water to explain water bills amid over 400 complaints

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Wednesday directed water concessionaires Manila Water Company Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. to explain the mounting number of complaints on customers’ water bills.

In a statement, the MWSS Regulatory Office chief regulator Patrick Ty said it issued a show cause order or notice to explain to the water distribution utilities.

“From June 2020 to date, the MWSS RO has received over four hundred (400) billing complaints from the Concessionaires’ customers,” Ty said.

The MWSS is compelling Maynilad and Manila Water to comply with the following directives:

• verify the consumption patterns of customers, check for irregularities, and automatically withhold any Statement of Account (SOA) with observed significant deviation from these patterns for further investigation and necessary adjustment
• communicate effectively, and in a timely manner, all information regarding the directives to customers and concerned stakeholders

“The water concessionaires are expected to resolve these observed violations, and issue an official explanation within this week,” Ty said.

Maynilad, Manila Water react

Sought for comment, Maynilad said it will comply with the show cause order and will explain to the MWSS RO.

“Prior to the lifting of ECQ restrictions in Metro Manila that finally allowed for the conduct of actual meter reading activities, Maynilad actively implemented measures to avoid confusion among customers on how water consumption during the ECQ period will be computed,” Maynilad said.

“Likewise, our field personnel withheld the issuance of water bills that deviated from usual consumption patterns so we can investigate and verify bill accuracy before it reaches customers. These interventions helped, given the minimal number of bill-related inquiries and concerns raised—only 1.33% of 1.46 million accounts,” it said.

Maynilad assured the public that it is looking into each complaint and reaching out to customers to resolve any remaining issues.

Manila Water, in a separate statement, also said that it is currently preparing the letter of response to the notice to explain issued by the MWSS RO on the alleged surge of customer complaints on their water bills.

“We will be recommending to the Regulatory Office a solution to the remaining .03% of unresolved issues due to after-the-meter leaks. We need the Regulators permission to effect these solutions,” Manila Water said.

Citing data gathered from June 1 to July 27, the Ayala-led water utility said that out of its one million customers, only 7% or 73,588 sought clarification on their billing.

“Of these, 90% were resolved by the call center or by business area frontliners. Only 0.7% of customers, or 7,937, have cases that were endorsed for further handling and of these, 6,246 were verified to have been billed based on actual consumption of customers,” Manila Water said.

It said that there are 379 cases wherein the spike in billing was caused by undetected underground leak in the customers’ plumbing system while only 57 customers had their bills adjusted.

“We are confident that we have followed each and every guideline issued by the MWSS-RO on average billing during lockdown and actual billing thereafter as well as installment payments and disconnection grace period,” Manila Water said.

Meter reading

The MWSS noted that meter reading and billing activities have been suspended, and the average billing policy has been applied during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified ECQ periods.

“Prior to the resumption of the Concessionaires’ read-and-bill operations the previous month, the MWSS RO has installed various measures to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the financial situation of customers, as well as prevent the potential bill shock that may be experienced once customers receive their water bills,” Ty said.

“The MWSS RO will continue to address customer concerns regarding the Concessionaires’ services, as well as actively monitor and validate the Concessionaires’ compliance with the agency’s strategies and directives. The agency  assures the public that sanctions will be imposed over violations of such policies that aim to protect public welfare,” he said. — RSJ, GMA News