High electricity bills during lockdown trigger outrage in Isabela

CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela –– Complaints have flooded the Isabela Electric Cooperative II (ISELCO II) because of high power bills during the enhanced quarantine period.

Meter readers and collectors were not allowed to visit households in March as a safety precaution against catching or spreading the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), so the power utility charged families using the average of their previous electricity consumption.

“The average consumption charge, which they applied, has been unfavorable to us. My bill tripled from P848 to P2,880,” said Gamu town resident Gloriza Carbajosa-Preza.

But power bills are “naturally high” during the lockdown period because all the members of a household were indoors and were consuming electricity, said the utility’s manager, David Solomon Siquian. ISELCO II serves three districts of the province.

The utility applied “averaging” but had not “doubled” or “tripled” charges for March and April, Siquian said.

“The power that was consumed in December last year and in January and February this year were added together and then divided into three and multiplied by the present rate, which was the basis for the March billing,” Liborio Medrano, manager of ISELCO II Financial Services Department.

Medrano said this billing method followed the rules of the Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Electrification Administration, and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

The utility also addressed recurring brownouts at night in some areas, which were due to the high rate of consumption, said ISELCO II Technical Manager Joseph Palattao.

“We do not intend to generate brownouts because we will be at a loss if there are brownouts. Instead, we are trying hard to maintain regular power supply,” he added.

LZB