MWSS: Over 200K Maynilad customers shall expect P101.30, P376.78 refund in February

Over 200,000 customers of Maynilad Water Services Inc. in areas served by the Putatan Water Treatment Plants (PWTPs) affected by water service interruptions shall expect a hefty refund in their water bills next month, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System-Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) said Tuesday.

During the public information drive for the affected Maynilad customers, MWSS-RO Technical Regulations Area-Operations Monitoring manager Engr. Joel Dominguez said that the agency “found out during the period December 23 to January 15, there was service level breach in the areas of Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, and Cavite which includes Bacoor, Imus, Noveleta, Rosario, and Cavite City.”

“There are actually 222,221 affected customers during the interruption,” Dominguez said.

The said service interruptions was the subject of the MWSS-RO’s investigation which found that Maynilad violated its service obligation of an uninterrupted 24-hour supply in areas served by the PWTPs.

The water concessionaires’ regulator eventually ordered Maynilad to rebate or refund affected customers in the amount of P27.477 million. 

The west zone water concessionaire has since agreed on the rebate program and said it would be best for customers to get the details from the public information drive of the MWSS-RO scheduled this week.

During the public information drive, Dominguez said there are two types of service interruptions.

“One is those who are receiving intermittent supply, meaning there are a number of hours that customers were rendered with low pressure or no water,” the MWSS-RO official said.

“The other type of customers were found to have no water for more than 24 hours,” he said.

Of the total 222,221 accounts or customers affected during the water interruptions, 18,032 accounts were those who experienced no water for more than 24 hours while the bulk or 204,189 were those who experienced intermittent supply.

“We have computed a total penalty for those accounts with no water for more than 24 hours in the amount of P6,794,166.67. Followed by customers with intermittent supply… the computation was P20,673,450.46,” Dominguez said.

The refund shall be reflected in the bills of affected customers next month.

“The rebate for those who were rendered no water for more than 24 hours is at P376.78, while those accounts with intermittent supply of water it’s at P101.30 per water service connection,” Dominguez said.

For his part, MWSS-RO chief regulator Patrick Ty said that the agency “understands that the water service interruptions are still ongoing but we assure all customers a rigorous and continued monitoring of the compliance of water concessionaires with their contractual obligations.”

“Penalties may still be imposed for any verified non-compliance of concessionaires with their service obligations,” Ty said.

Maynilad has earlier said that maintenance activities at its water treatment plants in Putatan, Muntinlupa, are ongoing.

“We are working round-the-clock to fully restore water service at the soonest possible time. Our mobile water tankers continue to do the rounds of affected areas in the meantime,” the company said.

The concessionaire also noted that the full 300-million liters per day (MLD) output of its existing Putatan Water Treatment Plants is “just enough” for the current requirements of its customers in the area, which is why any reduction due to maintenance activities are immediately felt.

“To address this, we are constructing a new treatment plant in Poblacion, Muntinlupa. Targeted for completion by year end, this facility is designed to produce 150 MLD of additional supply to reduce service disruptions,” Maynilad said.

Maynilad currently serves customers in the west zone, which covers the cities of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon Manila, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Quezon, Valenzuela. It also services certain areas in Cavite such as the cities of Bacoor, Cavite, and Imus; and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta, and Rosario. —KG, GMA Integrated News