We can avoid another electricity ‘bill shock’

By BusinessMirror Editorial July 16, 2020

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/07/16/we-can-avoid-another-electricity-bill-shock/

When something goes wrong, weak leaders play the “blame game” to avoid responsibility. Meralco President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Espinosa did a class act last week when he apologized to the public for the inconvenience brought about by the confusing electricity bills during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and other parts of the country. He could have chosen to explain how the “bill shock” came about and deflect most of the blame.

Espinosa told the Senate Committee on Energy there was a “failure to clarify” to customers which part of their bills was based on actual meter reading and which part was based on an “estimate” (distribution utilities and electric cooperatives nationwide were ordered to adopt “estimate billing” during the ECQ to protect their meter readers from the virus). “For that, I wish to apologize to you and to all similarly situated customers. It is necessary now for Meralco to send each of our customers a separate clarificatory letter to show the reading in February, in May or in June and explain to them clearly,” he said.

Espinosa added: “It is not Meralco’s business to charge customers beyond what they consumed.” Translation: Meralco meters are accurate, that’s why there were no complaints from its 6.3 million customers before the ECQ. He also told the Senate that Meralco has set a moratorium on service disconnection until September 30 this year. And to help lighten customers’ financial burdens during the pandemic, Meralco has invoked the “force majeure” provision of its power supply agreements, which effectively kept electricity rates low in March and April, and even lower in May and June.

Meralco customers were not the only ones that were shocked by huge electricity bills after the ECQ. Rep. Angelo B. Palmones of AGHAM Party-list said consumers in other regions are also victims of the electricity “bill shock.” He said: “My family also experienced a high rise in electricity prices being charged by COTELCO of Cotabato and SAJELCO of San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.”

In Bolinao, Pangasinan, one customer complained that her electric bill surged to P23,000 for the months of April and May when she usually only pays P6,000 per month. The Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative Inc., however, explained that the bill was an “average,” where the April billing was based on January to March 2020 consumption in accordance with the guidelines issued by the ERC to all electric cooperatives.

Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI), a consumer advocacy organization committed to assist consumers against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts and practices, conducted its own investigation on the surging electricity bills. It blamed regulatory lapses, particularly by the ERC, for the “bill shock” currently hounding power consumers nationwide.

In a letter to Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, chairman of the House Committee on Energy, in connection with the committee’s public hearing on electricity bills, LKI said the “bill shock” came as a result of ambiguous advisories issued by the ERC allowing distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to use “estimate billing.”

“The lack of implementing details created confusion among the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives around the country. These DUs and ECs nationwide were left to implement their own estimation without any clear guidelines by the ERC, and this may have brought about confusion both on the part of the DUs and ECs, and also on the part of the consumers. If there was more clarity in the guidelines, the confusion and stress consumers are feeling now with their electricity bills may have been avoided,” LKI said.

The country’s shared experience of higher electricity bills during the ECQ deserves deeper study and investigation. For starters, the ERC’s Distribution Services and Open Access Rules on the use of estimated billing should be scrapped to give way to better guidelines during times of crisis. We have seen its adverse effect on power consumers—an Internet café that was closed during the ECQ, for example, still gets a billing based on average consumption. This is not fair. Anything that causes national pain should be excised.