THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said about 95,000 of its customers saved around P3.2 billion on their electricity bills last year when the company provided payment relief at the height of the quarantine restrictions.
In a news release on Tuesday, Meralco Vice-President for Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said the power provider understands “the need for electricity when we were all asked to limit mobility and stay at home, so we did what we can to help — which is to continue serving with quality and reliable electricity service 24/7.”
The utility waived its guaranteed minimum billing demand (GMBD) last year in a move that proved beneficial to about 95,000 of its customers, which are mostly small and medium enterprises.
The GMBD is 70% of the customer’s contracted capacity if it does not reach the minimum demand of electricity specified in the service contract. The fee is meant to cover Meralco’s “development, operations, and maintenance of the distribution system… from high-voltage transmission grids to commercial and industrial accounts.”
Meralco also suspended disconnection activities for its customers in areas put under the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ last year.
Further, it offered installment payment arrangements (IPA) for its customers who were having a hard time paying for their electricity bills amidst the pandemic.
From May 2020 to October 2021, Meralco’s IPAs helped about 230,000 of its customers who are mostly in residential areas.
“We have always maintained that we will always be considerate and that there we can make arrangements on a case-to-case basis in terms of implementing longer payment time for them,” Mr. Zaldarriaga said.
On Tuesday, shares in Meralco gained 0.27% or 80 centavos to close at P298.60 apiece.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc.
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