THE Senate’s Energy Committee chairman asked both the state regulator and power distributor Meralco to avoid inflicting “another round of bill shock” on electric consumers.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian asked concerned authorities to closely oversee the conduct of onsite electric meter reading following heightened restrictions imposed under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to avoid a replay of last year’s widespread complaints from bill shocked consumers.
“We do not want a repeat of the widespread confusion over skyrocketing electric bills last year in the wake of the ECQ imposition,” the senator said in a statement on Wednesday. As of late Tuesday, officials said the extension of the weeklong ECQ beyond Easter (April 4) is still possible, and will hinge on discussions this Saturday.
Gatchalian said those concerned “should have learned a lesson on that to avoid another round of bill shocks,” adding in Filipino, “We don’t want a repeat of the confusion ensuing from last year’s sudden surge in billings after one month of ECQ. Those concerned should have learned how to avoid another bill shock.”
Gatchalian also aired an appeal for concerned officials of local government units (LGUs) in areas declared under the so-called “NCR plus bubble” to cooperate with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Meralco in allowing onsite meter readings to ensure the accuracy of billing to consumers, while observing health protocols.
The senator recalled the ERC was barraged with numerous complaints over the sudden spike in consumers’ electric bills by midyear last year, prompting a Senate inquiry that led Meralco to admit it failed to indicate that it had included the estimated (as against actual) March and April consumption in the month of May billing, causing confusion among consumers.
He noted that the power distributor likewise admitted under investigation that consumers were billed based on their average consumption from December 2019 to February 2020 because “no meter reading was conducted” from March to April while the ECQ was in effect.
Citing findings that over 4.2 million Filipinos were rendered jobless last February, higher than the previous month’s data, Gatchalian aired an appeal for power suppliers not to add to the burden and instead “let us help each other.”
Image credits: (Bloomberg)
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