Colmenares sees ‘impasse’ over unpaid power bills, seeks one-month condonation

Published May 27, 2020, 7:44 PM By Ellson Quismorio
https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/05/27/colmenares-sees-impasse-over-unpaid-power-bills-seeks-one-month-condonation/

There could be an impasse over the potential mass non-payment of electric bills during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period, Bayan Muna Chairman Neri Colmenares warned the House energy committee on Wednesday (May 27).

In a virtual hearing by the House panel that was attended by officials from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and electric cooperative groups, Colmenares said Filipinos simply don’t have the means to pay the exorbitant electric bills issued to them during the ECQ period.

“This is the pressing problem: Kahit i-adjust ng Meralco yung billing nila, kahit mangalahati pa yung bill, ang ating mamamayan hindi pa rin kakayaning bayaran yan. Kasi wala silang income talaga in the last two months eh (Even if Meralco adjusts the bill, even if they cut it to half, people still won’t be able to pay for it. Because they didn’t have any income at all for the last two months),” the former House member said.

“Now may impasse tayo dito. Sige, bumaba na ‘yung bills, hindi pa rin mababayaran — malaking kumplikadong problema ito. Kasi hindi mo siya pwedeng i-disconnect ng kuryente kasi that’s a public health threat (Now we’ll have an impasse. Alright, bills are reduced, but they still won’t be paid — this is a big, complicated problem. Because you can’t disconnect their power service because that’s a public health threat),” said Colmenares, who was one of the resource persons.

“In the midst of a pandemic, may hundreds of thousands kang households na mainit, madilim, talagang hirap kang mag-quarantine doon. I’m very worried na hindi mababayaran, kumplikado ‘yan kung maputulan (you have hundreds of thousands of households that are hot, dark, it would be really difficult to quarantine in them. I’m very worried that the bills can’t be paid, and it will further complicate things if power is cut off),” he pointed out.

Presided over by panel chairman, Marinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, Wednesday’s inquiry was an offshoot of the electric bill “shocks” that gripped Meralco consumers and Metro Manila as well as patrons of electric cooperatives in the country during the ECQ months of March and April.

The social media space has been flooded with complaints from consumers regarding their April bill from Meralco, which doubled or even tripled in cost in some cases.

The power distribution giant has since told customers to disregard the April bill, which it came up with using averages instead of proper meter reading. This was due to the restricted movement of people during the quarantine.

Meralco Vice President Victor Genuino told House members that for May, up to 65 percent of households in its service area underwent meter reading. The figure is a 63-percentage point improvement from April, he noted.



One-month condonation

Worried that consumers still won’t be able to pay the forthcoming, more accurate, electricity bill due to the widespread work stoppage during the ECQ, Colmenares suggested a one-month condonation of bills to be shouldered by Meralco, fellow power players, and government.

“So ang proposal, Mr. Chair, ‘yung one-month condonation sana ng kuryente for at least 100 or up to 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) sa lahat ng consumers (So my proposal, Mr. Chair, is to give consumers a one-month condonation of electricity for at least 100 or up to 200 kilowatt hours for all consumers),” he said.

The Bayan Muna chairman said this would translate to a P5.7-billion total subsidy for Meralco’s 6.4 million customers, computed from a 100-kWh month-long consumption at a rate of P8.9 per kWh.

He said Meralco can afford the amount. “That’s just the net core income of Meralco in first quarter of 2020, which was P5.72 billion.”

Colmenares said the power utility company could also tap some P2 billion in unrefunded money to consumers stemming from a corporate income tax case in the 1990s. The money was part of a bigger refundable amount of P30 billion, but ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera confirmed in the hearing that the P28 billion has already been accounted for.

“I agree. Chair [Devanadera] should look into this,” Velasco said regarding the potential use of the P2 billion as subsidy.

As for consumers in the countryside who will be unable to pay their electricity bills, Colmenares said the so-called government share in national wealth–a huge chunk of which is the Malampaya fund–could be used by government.

He estimated that of the 14 million customers of electric cooperatives, some 11 million are households. He pegged the needed one-month subsidy at P9.9 billion.

Colmenares said the government share in national wealth under the 2020 National Expenditure Program (NEP) was worth P249 billion. He said the gross amount could now be as high as P275 billion.

“Chicken feed yang P9.9 billion sa fund, pero malaking bagay ‘yan sa mamayan sa probinsya (The P9.9 billion is chicken feed to that fund, but it will mean a lot to the people in the province),” he said.