Meralco assures no more ‘bill shock’ amid NCR Plus ECQ

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Thursday assured its customers that the “bill shock” experienced by power consumers last year during the height of strict lockdowns will no longer happen despite the reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and its four nearby provinces.

At a virtual press conference, Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said that meter-reading activities will continue in the company’s franchise area even though it is under the strictest quarantine classification since the re-imposed ECQ is more relaxed than the previous year’s.

“Ang bill shock kasi nangyari ‘yan last year kasi matatandaan mo tatlo hangang apat na buwan ng cumulative consumption ang nangyari dahil hindi tayo nakabasa,” Zaldarriaga said.

(The bill shock happened last year because there were three to four months of cumulative consumption which we weren’t able to read.)

“This year, dahil tuluy-tuloy naman ang pagbabasa ng readers natin... As to the bill shock comparative to last year, hindi na po mangyayari,” he said.

(This year, our meter-reading activities are continuous... As to the bill shock comparative to last year, it will no longer happen.)

Last year, Meralco consumers complained about the sudden spike in their electricity bills by midyear.

Meralco explained during Congressional investigations that consumers were billed based on their average consumption from December 2019 to February 2020, as there was no meter reading conducted from March to April last year due to the implementation of ECQ.

As to the power rate hike for April, Zaldarriaga said this should not be considered as “bill shock” since the nature of the increase is consumption driven amid the usual higher demand during warmer dry season weather.

Meralco is increasing its household rate by P0.0872 per kilowatt-hour (/kWh), bringing the overall rate for the month to P8.4067/kWh from P8.3195/kWh in March.

The power rate hike is equivalent to around P17 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.

Meralco also suspended disconnection activities in its franchise area until April 15, to ease the burden of its customers affected by the declaration of an ECQ in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus bubble - Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan - from March 29 to April 11.

As to what will happen after April 15, Zaldarriaga said Meralco will start delivering notices of disconnection.

However, he said customers should wait for future announcements “assuming there will be movements or changes in the ECQ or another tight lockdown.” -MDM, GMA News