Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) – The Energy Regulatory Commission is set to release an advisory that will guide consumers on payment of electricity bills falling due during the quarantine period, it said during the Senate committee of the whole hearing on Thursday.
This is amid an on-going investigation by the commission and the Energy department into reports of Manila Electric Company’s sudden spike in billed amounts.
“In so far that ERC is concerned, we are coming out with an advisory, of course with consultation with the Department of Energy. The advisory is being finalized right now for the guidance of our consumers,“ ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera said when asked by Senate energy committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian whether consumers should pay their bills despite the said investigation.
“So saan ka ba? (Where do you fall?) Doon ka ba sa (Are you in the) four monthly installments or sa (in the) six monthly installments? And our advisory will also say that for the installments, you pay every 15th of the month starting June para hindi rin napakabigat (so that it will not be too burdensome),” Devanadera said.
The ERC Chair explained that those who will be classified under the six-monthly installments are those who are consuming 200 kilowatt hours or less per month, or what she called the “lifeliners”, while those exceeding this will be under four-monthly installments.
Some sectors recently voiced out their concern over the sudden spike of their electricity bills during this quarantine period, which started mid-March and is expected to last until May 31 assuming COVID-19 cases do not spike again.
Meralco earlier explained that this is a result of higher consumption since consumers are forced to stay in their houses during the quarantine, requiring the use of cooling devices such as air-conditioners to cope with the hot weather.
On Monday, a group of lawmakers also filed House Resolution 879 that directed the Committee on Energy to investigate the matter “despite overcapacity of electricity supply.”
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that in their initial investigation, the bills in March and April were estimated, while the bill in May was an accumulation of all the previous months’ consumption. Both the DOE and the ERC have asked the power distributor for an explanation on the basis for the billings.
“Our deadline is actually tomorrow but even if we don’t have yet we already met with Meralco and required them to explain the bill because if we look at it we don’t see the installment payment. All we see is a big amount, so iyon kung bakit nagre-react ang mga tao (that is the reason why people are reacting),” Devanadera said.
“Hinihintay ko lang yung (We are just waiting for the) formal reply ng (of) Meralco doon sa sulat namin sa kanila (on our letter to them) and in due time, maybe by tomorrow, we’ll be able to be more definite kung ano ang nangyari sa (on what happened to the) bill shock,” Cusi said.
