ERC receives 50,000 consumer complaints on electric bills

MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Wednesday it has already received around 50,000 consumer complaints mostly related to high electricity billings.

“As of yesterday, ang natanggap ng ERC ay 50,000 consumer complaints. Siguro mga 80 percent ‘yan, high billings,” ERC chair Agnes Devanadera told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

(As of yesterday, the ERC has received 50,000 consumer complaints. Maybe 80 percent of that is about high billings.)

Devanadera appealed for understanding from the public as the ERC could not immediately respond to all consumers due to the high number of complaints being received by the commission.

She then said that there were indeed mistakes in the computation of major power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco) for electric bills during the recent months covered by the implementation of community quarantine, as earlier discussed in Senate and House hearings.

“Noong magkaroon ng hearing sa Senado at Congreso, napag-alaman natin na talagang nagkamali, may pagkakamali ang Meralco sa computation ng mga bills dahil ‘yung estimate to actual reading, naging halo-halong kalamay, lahat na-add,” she said.

(When we had the hearing in the Senate and House of Representatives, we found out that there were really mistakes on Meralco’s computation of bills because they mixed the computation on estimated and actual reading.)

During the Senate energy committee hearing on July 6, Devanadera said the ERC has received 47,000 consumer complaints regarding electricity bills. She said that the commission is communicating with the concerned power distributor firms regarding these complaints.

/MUF