Manila Water Company, Inc. and Maynilad Water Services, Inc. are still not allowed to disconnect customers from August 21 to 31, 2021, after Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office (MWSS RO) extended its no service disconnection policy.
In a text exchange, MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty said MWSS RO has decided to extend the no disconnection policy in Metro Manila until the end of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). He did not provide any more details.
To recall, it was just on Thursday when the government’s pandemic task force announced that it has agreed to downgrade the lockdown restriction in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Laguna from ECQ to MECQ starting August 21.
The task force likewise agreed to put the province of Bataan under MECQ beginning August 23 until the end of the month. Bataan was placed under ECQ until August 22.
It was last August 4 when MWSS RO again directed Manila Water and Maynilad to suspend all service disconnection activities (whether temporary or permanent) for the duration of the ECQ period, and to ensure water supply availability within their Service Areas. This is in line with the declaration of an ECQ in the NCR from August 6 to 20.
However, at the time, the MWSS RO still made an appeal to concerned Local Government Units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, Cavite, and Rizal, to allow the meter readers of the water concessionaires to continue their on-site water meter reading and billing operations during the ECQ period.
“This will enable the Concessionaires to bill their customers based on actual water consumption, and help minimize billing complaints that may abound if the customers were to be billed based on average consumption,” Ty said in a previous statement.
The MWSS RO also directed both Concessionaires to ensure strict compliance of their meter readers and other personnel with the prescribed health and safety protocols in the conduct of read-and-bill.
“The agency will continue to protect the welfare of the public, especially during this difficult time of the pandemic,” Ty said.
Before this, MWSS RO also suspended water disconnection activities from May 15 to May 31 period when Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal was placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with “heightened restrictions”.