ERC suffers from 'complainant shock' with 47,000 electricity bill grievances received

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Monday said it has received tens of thousands of complaints from electricity consumers nationwide because of alleged irregularities in their bills amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a Senate hearing, ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera bared that the regulatory body has so far received some 47,000 complaints.

"Kung mayroon po tayong bill shock, mayroon naman kaming complainant shock dahil 47,000 na. Hindi ho namin na-anticipate at all, so kung anuman ang personnel na mayroon kami we're moving them to the consumer affairs service to be able to respond to these," she said.

"Sa ngayon ho mas marami tayo nare-receive sa social media, sa aming FB (Facebook), sa aming e-mails, kung minsan ho text messages. But all these things are treated as complaints kaya ho lumaki ng 47,000," she added.

Devanadera explained that the ERC staff are combing through these complaints one by one and coordinating the issues with the concerned distribution utilities and electric cooperatives.

She cited for example the case of Meralco customers complaining about the confusion on bills that are estimated and those that were actually read.

"Doon pa lang po sa social media we’re getting complaints through Facebook, complaints through text messages, we’re so deluged with so many complaints, we need to confer with Meralco, because on the face of it, ah hindi nakalagay specifically ano ang estimated amount dito," she said.

Meralco, on the other hand, committed to issue another clarificatory letter

It also vowed to increase its manpower dedicated to answering grievances.

"Let me ask for the indulgence of the chair and the committee and let me apologize for the continuing inconvenience to our customers brought about by their issues and concerns regarding these billing matters," Meralco President and CEO Ray Espinosa said.

"As we speak, we are hiring more people as call center agents, deploying more people to respond to emails, and even to issues raised in our various social media channels," he added.

In May, many Meralco customers experienced "bill shock" due to the estimated consumption billed to them covering the period of strict lockdowns when meter-reading activities were suspended due to the threat of COVID-19.

Amid the confusion regarding the bills, Meralco assured that there will be no disconnection activities until September 30. —KBK, GMA News