Manila Electric Co. announced over the weekend the suspension of disconnection activities in its franchise area until April 15.
Meralco’s move followed the government’s announcement placing the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal under a one-week Enhanced Community Quarantine from March 29 to April 4.
“Cognizant of the plight of our customers amid these challenging times brought about by the pandemic and in support of the government’s effort to manage the transmission of COVID-19, we commit to put on hold all disconnection activities until April, 15 2021,” Meralco first vice president and chief commercial officer Ferdinand Geluz said.
“We hope this measure will contribute to easing the burden of our customers and provide enough relief and time for them to settle their bills,” Geluz said.
Geluz said Meralco would continue to be very considerate during these trying times and vowed to assist customers in need of help in their electricity concerns.
Meralco earlier said it would continue vital operations such as meter reading following the order of the Energy Regulatory Commission and would work round the clock to serve customers.
The ERC appealed to the local government units to allow the distribution utilities’ meter readers to conduct onsite meter reading activities.
“We are being proactive this time that we seek the assistance of the LGUs, particularly in those areas declared under the ‘NCR Plus Bubble’, to permit the electric meter readers to do their job in order to avoid the electric distribution utilities from resorting to ‘estimated’ billings again which may cause undue burden to our electricity consumers,” ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera said.
The ERC recorded an all-time high of 50,000 consumer complaints it received over electric bill shock last year.
It investigated and issued show cause orders to DUs that were found to have violated certain directives contained in the ERC advisories during the implementation of ECQ and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine measures.
“We want to avoid another surge of consumer complaints, similar to what happened last year, that we are appealing to the LGUs to allow the DU’s meter readers to conduct the actual meter reading. On the other hand, the DUs are directed to ensure the meter readers wear the necessary personal protective equipment and that they comply with the prescribed health protocols in order to reduce the risk of getting infected with the COVID-19 virus,” Devanadera said.
Meanwhile, Meralco encouraged customers to send personal messages via Facebook Messenger, Twitter or call its 16211 hotline before going to Meralco business centers which would be on skeleton force.