Zarate urges Meralco to further extend no disconnection policy for 6 months

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate on Wednesday urged the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to further extend its no-disconnection policy for at least six months to give more time for consumers to pay their electric bills.

Zarate made the remark after Speaker Lord Allan Velasco announced that Meralco has extended its no-disconnection policy until January 31, 2021 upon his request.

"[The extension] is a much welcome move but we urge Meralco to  further extend its no disconnection period for at least six months so that electricity consumers would be in a better position to pay their bills considering that many lost their jobs and are finding it hard to just put a meal on the table," Zarate said in a statement.

Velasco on November 30 wrote Meralco president Ray Espinosa requesting the extension of the no-disconnection policy during the entire Christmas season until end of January 2021.

Velasco said doing so would help ease the burden of Meralco customers who are still affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, Espinosa informed Velasco in a December 14 letter that "careful evaluation and in consideration” of his request, Meralco will extend its no-disconnection policy for unpaid bills from December 31, 2020 to January 31, 2021.

The extended grace period, Espinosa added, will benefit more than three million Meralco customers with consumption of 200 kilowatt per hour and below during the billing month of December 2020, representing around 47% of their total customer base.

Even as Meralco granted Velasco's request, Zarate is hoping that congressional investigations involving the distributor would still continue.

"We still expect that the investigations in the House of Representatives regarding Meralco's reported over charging and over recoveries would continue for the benefit of our  already burdened consumers," he said.—AOL, GMA News