Meralco prepaid customers number 100,000 at end-2018

By Lenie Lectura - January 31, 2019

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/01/31/meralco-prepaid-customers-number-100000-at-end-2018/

THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has registered over 100,000 prepaid electricity service (PRES) customers last year.

“Our approval is for 140,000. We’ve breached the 100,000-mark, maybe 105,000 or 108,000 and we intend to finish up the 40,000 this year,” Meralco Senior Vice President Alfredo Panlilio said.

In 2017, Meralco activated an additional 48,735 PRES customers, cumulative of 89,717. The activations in 2017 were an all-time high, doubled year-on-year.

The prepaid service runs on the latest “smart” meters that allow customers to monitor their electricity consumption, allowing them to budget their consumption and expenses.

In all, Meralco applied for a total of 1 million smart meters to be installed across its service areas. But the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has yet to approve Meralco’s applications.

Panlilio is assuming the ERC needs to approve first the business rules for its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project before Meralco’s applications for additional smart meters are approved.

“The filings we’ve given the last three years have not been decided on, totaling about a million meters. But I think the first step we need is to finalize the AMI business rules. Once they’ve finalized that, they should approve our filings on the meters,” he said.

AMI is an integrated system of smart meters, communication networks and data-management systems that enables two-way communication between utilities and customers.

The smart meters can handle prepaid and post-paid electricity services. Panlilio said subscribers with smart meters can manage their electricity usage and budget through consumption information, alerts and notifications.

“The AMI rules are not only for prepaid, but also for postpaid for the smart meters. The one million that we filed with ERC involves various cases of postpaid and prepaid, but all using smart meters,” he said.

“At some point, if a postpaid subscriber hooked on a smart meter decides to shift to prepaid, then that can be done. Part of the one million smart meters that we applied for is for replacement,” Panlilio said.

Meralco registered 6.5 million customers.  The company is targeting to have three million of its customers shift to smart meters four years from now.

“We have 6.5 million customers. Before I retire, I wish for even at least three million. By 2023, the plan that we submitted to ERC is three million subscribes on smart meters,” Panlilio said.

PRES, meanwhile, allows customers to buy prepaid credits to keep electricity going in their homes. It also allows customers to monitor and control their consumption through daily balance notifications.

The service is more affordable with denominations of as low as P100. Customers can reload anytime, anywhere through multiple loading channels such as Meralco business centers, Bayad Center outlets and e-load retailers.

The prepaid electricity service, is available in residential areas in the cities of Manila, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasig, municipalities of Angono, Cainta, Binangonan, and Taytay in Rizal, and parts of Taguig, Pasay, San Juan, Paranaque, Novaliches, Caloocan, Cavite, Tagaytay and Bulacan.