High power bill? Send text to Duterte

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Customers of Pampanga II Electric Cooperative (Pelco II) were shocked when they received their bills for April and saw that the cost of their power use increased by 200 to nearly 1,000 percent.

Tony Cauguiran, leader of Mabalacat Stop Corruption, on Friday urged Pelco II customers in Mabalacat City and six towns in Pampanga province, numbering about 65,000, to complain to President Rodrigo Duterte by texting him on 8888.

That is the number of the Citizens’ Hotline and Complaint Center that the President had set up by executive order to receive complaints from citizens.

Charging too much

Cauguiran appealed to Pelco II customers in Porac, Santa Rita, Bacolor, Lubao, Guagua and Sasmuan towns and Mabalacat City to “unite, sacrifice and spend” P2.50 a call to the center.

Rio Precious Ursal on Friday complained that her bill for April was P2,842, which she said was an increase of 271 percent from her March bill of P764.

“Are we consuming too much electricity or is it you charging us too much?” Ursal asked Pelco II on Facebook.

Cecille Yumul, a retired schoolteacher and actress, resorted to humor to cushion the impact of her bloated bill, saying the increase may have been caused by the shaking of Pelco II meters in the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Luzon on April 22.

Maria Luisa Carvajal Buenaventura could not think of anything to explain why her bill, which averaged P60 a month, shot up to P599.66 in April.

Amador Guevarra, Pelco II general manager, said the increases were not caused by price adjustments, which the cooperative had not sought.

He said the increases were due to higher generation cost resulting from limited reserve on the Luzon grid.

“The price [on] the spot market had shot up,” Guevarra said, adding that bigger consumption and some technical problems exacerbated the situation.

Those probably include the arrears that showed up on some bills when there were none before.