MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has assured the Department of Energy (DOE) that its delivery of 4.1 million letters to its customers explaining their electricity bills for the month of May is on schedule amid mounting customer complaints.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Thursday that Meralco President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Espinosa sent him a letter to give updates on how Meralco has been addressing customer complaints.
He added Espinosa also provided a compliance status report on Meralco’s commitments to the DOE, Energy Regulatory Commission, Joint Congressional Energy Commission, Senate and House Committees on Energy, and the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.
In his letter, Espinosa informed Cusi that Meralco is “on target to deliver the 4.1 million personalized letters to customers explaining their May 2020 bills (based on actual meter reading) made even more laymanized than what we issued for the June bills.”
The delivery of the letters started on July 10 and will be completed by around July 16.
Espinosa said Meralco also assigned “virtual agents” in select Bayad Center outlets within its franchise area so that affected customers can talk online to a Meralco employee regarding their electricity billing concerns.
Additional manpower was also assigned to handle complaints in Meralco’s digital channels on e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.
Meralco has earlier shouldered the convenience fee charged by the payment gateway provider for payments made through the Meralco online app or website for payment transactions between March 15 to May 16, amounting to P12.6 million for approximately 268,000 transactions.
Espinosa said no convenience fee will be charged any more for Meralco online payments until the end of the general community quarantine imposed by the government to curtail the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Cusi welcomed the updates given by Meralco as the DOE continues to receive a high volume of consumer complaints regarding their electricity bills for the month of May and June.
“We welcome Meralco’s assurance that they have been acting upon the various issues being raised by consumers. In this time of the pandemic, our people are plagued with concerns about their health and safety, as well as their job and financial security,” he said.
“The government and private sector should work hand-in-hand to alleviate, and not add to their burdens,” the DOE chief added.
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