P100k water bill shocks consumer

A Maynilad customer was shocked to see that the July water bill for his household exceeded P100,000.

According to Maki Pulido’s report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday, Dominic Songco was billed P100,427.48 for the period June 20 to July 20.

“Ano ‘to Maynilad!!!? Inflatable pool lang gamit namin… pero ‘yung bill niyo sa’min para kaming may resort,” Songco said in a Facebook post.

He said that his water bill since lockdowns were imposed in March had never exceeded P3,000, even in times when his children would use their inflatable pool.

“Every month, naglalaro lang po sa P1,200 ang aming bill. Ang pinakamalaki lang namin usually ‘pag ganiyang may inflatable pool kami every summer, July no’ng nag-birthday ang anak ko, P2,000 ang pinakamalaki,” Songco told GMA News.

Maynilad admitted to a reading error after investigating the complaint.

“Iimbestigahan na lang namin ito at kung nakita na ‘yun talaga ‘yung actual na konsumo, ire-revise na lang namin. Tiyak na hindi ito aabot ng isandaang libo,” Maynilad spokesman Zmel Grabillo said.

However, he stressed that Songco’s complaint was an isolated case out of their 1.4 million customers.

“Ang binabasa ng isang meter reader ay isang libo. Kung bubuuin ‘yung kaniyang binabasa sa isang araw, medyo marami-raming metro rin ito. May mga pagkakataon na nakakapag-input ng maling numero,” Songco said.

But since Songco posted his experience, other netizens have also begun posting in the comments section photos of their own water bills exceeding P100,000. - Julia Mari Ornedo/MDM, GMA News