Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 6) — Millions of Meralco customers who have not been able to pay for their electric consumption from March to May will start receiving two bills this June, officials said Saturday.
Agnes Macob, Meralco’s head of commercial operations, told reporters in a briefing that on top of the regular bill, consumers will also receive an “installment payment plan” bill, which contains the amount the customers have to pay every 15th of the month until dues are fully settled.
Under the installment payment plan, households with a consumption of 200 kWh and below for February 2020 are entitled to six monthly installments, while those who consumed 201 kWh and above can make staggered payments within four months.
Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said in the same briefing that around 2.8 million, or 40 percent of their customers, are about to receive their June bill that reflects their actual consumption in the past four months.
The due date for one-fourth of the consumer’s total bill for this month is on June 30, Zaldarriaga said.
The balance will then be divided into four or six, depending on the installment payment plan of each consumer, he said, with the first charge falling due on July 15.
Macob vowed that Meralco will be “very considerate in the next few months” to customers who will fail to settle their dues, assuring them the electric service provider will not cut their power supply.
Zaldarriaga said that like the electricity bill for May, the June bill will be significantly steeper compared to months before the enhanced community quarantine.
He explained their costumers typically consumed more electricity as the weather was significantly hotter and people were forced to stay at home for two months due to the community quarantine.
Last month, some customers of the utility firm complained about the sudden spike in electricity costs charged by Meralco. This led the Energy Regulatory Commission to order all power distributors to issue new electricity bills to reflect actual meter readings.
Meter reading activities were suspended from March 15 to May 15 due to the stay-at-home-rule which sought to curb the spread of coronavirus disease.
Meralco has said the March and April bills they issued were estimated based on the average daily consumption from December 2019, January 2020, and February 2020.
