Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday called on concerned authorities to make sure to avoid another round of electricity bill shock as greater Manila area is placed anew under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy recalled the thousand of complaints from consumers last year over the sudden increase of fees charged from them by power utilities during the imposition of strict lockdowns due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
"Ayaw na nating maulit pa 'yong kalituhan sa mataas na singil ng kuryente noong isang taon matapos ang ilang buwan ng pagpapatupad ng ECQ (We do not want a repeat of the confusion over the exorbitant electricity bills last year after months of implementing the ECQ)," Gatchalian said in a statement on March 31.
"Kaya dapat may natutunan na ang mga kinauukulan at may mga nakahandang hakbang na upang maiwasan ang bill shock (So authorities should have learned from this and should have prepared measures to avoid bill shock)," he added.
He said local government units (LGUs) within the "NCR Plus" bubble should work with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco) in allowing onsite meter readings so billings will be accurate, but at the same time observing health protocols.
"Umabot na sa 4.2 milyong mga Pilipino ang walang trabaho nitong nakaraang Pebrero, mas mataas kaysa sa bilang ng mga nawalan ng trabaho noong Enero ayon sa datos. Huwag na nating dagdagan pa ang pasanin nila (Jobless Filipinos have reached 4.2 million in February, higher than those who lost their jobs in January. Let's not add to their burden)," Gatchalian said.
"Ang Meralco din naman ang mahihirapan kung ang mga nasasakupan nila ay hindi kaagad makakabayad. Dapat magtulungan tayo (Meralco, anyway, will end up being at a disadvantage if their customers cannot pay right away. So we should be working together)," he added.
In August last year, the ERC penalized Meralco with a P19-million fine after finding that it violated the government's advisories during the community quarantine, particularly, for failing to accurately and promptly explain to its customers that estimates were included in their electricity bills.
Meralco was not able to conduct actual meter readings due to the imposition of ECQ then.
The ERC received over 50,000 consumer complaints over electric bill shock, which it described as an "all-time high".
Last March 26, the ERC appealed to LGUs in the National Capital Region (NCR), Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal to allow the distribution utilities to conduct meter readings.
ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera said this to "avoid the electric distribution utilities from resorting to 'estimated' billings again."