Meralco says pilot prepaid meter project to be fully rolled out by Q4

Business Mirror
23 Mar 2014 Written by Lenie Lectura

POWER retailer Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said the commercial pilot of the remaining prepaid meters approved for rollout by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) would take place in the fourth quarter of this year.

“The commercial launch is scheduled fourth quarter of 2014 up to 2015 for the balance of 38,000 meters,” said Alfredo Panlilio, Meralco senior vice president and head of customer retail services.

The ERC earlier approved a 40,000-unit prepaid meter project in January. The utility firm started the commercial pilot for 2,000 customers in Taytay and Angono, both in the provice of Rizal.

“We have gotten positive feedback. To date, after eight weeks into commercial pilot we have 1,050 applications and we are slowly going into those applications to energize them,” said Panlilio, adding that these applications are mostly new Meralco customers.

The utility firm has activated top-up centers in which customers can buy electricity load. Reloading can be done in Bayad Centers, Meralco business centers, sari-sari stores and Generika pharmacies. Eventually, Meralco would allow reloading in Smart centers nationwide.

“Our target is to have 2,000 prepaid meters [installed] by end-May. We now have 1,050 applications. Of this number, 140 now are already in service. Once we hit 200, we will conduct consumer research in terms of their experience of the service,” said Panlilio, adding that Meralco intends to shorten the processing time of these applications that currently takes three to four weeks.

He said the consumer research will form part of Meralco’s business model that will be submitted to the ERC.

The pilot activities, he added, will determine the viability of the planned platforms, the prepaid meters and the possible trouble-shooting mechanisms.

Meralco said the prepaid service offering will enable customers to budget their electricity consumption. The system also informs consumers if they need to reload immediately to avoid disconnection.

Prepaid electricity is also being used in other countries such as Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, Meralco said.

The power retailer has allotted a budget of $7 million for the entire system. source

Lenie Lectura