Posted on March 30, 2014 08:49:07 PM
DISTRIBUTION UTILITY Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) hopes to complete the commercial test of its prepaid electricity service by the middle of this year, a senior company official said in a text message on Friday last week.
MANILA Electric Co. targets to complete tests by the middle of the year. -- AFP
“We had already started the commercial test for the prepaid service in Taytay and Angono last January,” Alfredo S. Panlilio, Meralco senior vice-president for commercial retail services, said, referring to two municipalities in Rizal province.
“We are targeting 2,000 commercial pilot customers by midyear. So far, we already have more than 200 prepaid meters running under this pilot phase.”
The pilot phase for Meralco’s prepaid electricity service, covering 200 households in Angono, was completed last year.
Mr. Panlilio said for the commercial test, Meralco wants to do a “live test” of the service by getting feedback on customers’ experience.
“We will ask for their preference. We want to understand their issues and address them before we officially launch the service,” he said. “We have already activated Kuryente Load top-up centers in the areas covered.
These are located in Meralco’s business centers, Bayad Centers, some sari-sari stores, and Generika pharmacies,” Mr. Panlilio added.
By the end of the commercial test, the official said Meralco expects to have “a good sense of how the whole system works for customers in preparation for the commercial launch.”
“For the commercial pilot, we will have a consumer survey. After that, we will file business rules with the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) before we push for the rollout to 40,000 customers,” Mr. Panlilio said.
“We are looking at a formal launch by the fourth quarter. For the rollout, we are initially looking at customers in Taytay and Cainta [in Rizal], Pasig City, Manila, Mandaluyong City and Makati City.”
The prepaid electricity service was initially targeted to be rolled out last year.
“What’s more important is we want to make sure that when we officially launch, we are confident that we have already addressed all issues and problems,” Mr. Panlilio said.
Meralco, in January last year, allotted $7 million for technical and commercial tests of its prepaid electricity service which will use an advanced metering system. Under the new system, customers will be able to pay in advance for electricity, with the amount automatically credited to their “smart” meters.
Meralco had tapped General Electric to be system integrator of its prepaid electricity service, Germany-based Orga Systems for the billing aspect and US-based Ecologic Analytics for meter data management.
Meralco distributes electricity in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, as well as parts of Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Pampanga.
Its net income edged up just 0.50% to P17.211 billion last year from P17.117 billion in 2012. Revenues climbed 4.7% to P298.636 billion from P285.270 billion, while costs and expenses grew 3.1% to P274.486 billion from P266.162 billion.
Shares of the company gained P4.20 or 1.53% to P278 apiece on Friday last week from P273.80 each on Thursday.
Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., which has the biggest stake in Meralco, is partly owned by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld. -- Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano source
