Consumer rights watchdog, Kuryente.org reminded Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to strictly honor its non-disconnection policy until the end of January 2021. It also calls for the House of Representatives and the Senate to provide oversight on how Meralco’s said policy is being carried out by their field personnel.

In December 2020, Meralco announced the extension of its ‘Non-Disconnection Policy’ to January 31, 2021 to help ease the burden of Meralco consumers affected by the economic strain brought by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

However, despite said policy, some cases of disconnection due to non-payment are being reported. One, even directly experienced by Kuryente.Org’s own Communications Officer, Ela De Leon.

“On January 20 at around 1:00 pm, I was at my parents’ house when two men handed my sister a ‘service of disconnection’ and told us that he was there to cut off our electricity. A month ago, my mother paid PhP 15,000, which left us a balance of PhP 16,000. We had explained that, due to the pandemic and the recent death of my father, we would not be able to pay the bill in full, but we promised them that we would,” shared De Leon.

Despite their pleadings, the Meralco personnel told them, “Puputulin ko pa rin dahil sabi ninyo ayaw ninyong putulin ko.” (I will still cut off your service because you told me not to.)

“Even after I told him that I was aware of the policy, he mocked me and proceeded to enter our home. It was, for me, a clear and blatant case of harassment and power-tripping,” De Leon added. “The man who barged in our home was not even wearing a uniform.”

At the time, De Leon’s 14-year-old sister was having her online classes, while another sibling was working from home.

The Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers clearly provides customers the right to “due process prior to disconnection of electric service.”

According to Nic Satur Jr, National coordinator of Kuryente.Org, this is not an isolated case, as it is just one of the hundreds of issues an average Filipino faces daily, amid an already year-long global pandemic.

“Ela’s story is not an isolated one. If they were able to do that to an advocate, who is very well aware of her rights and knew how to assert them, how much more to ordinary consumers?” said Satur.

“This is the very reason we organized Kuryente.Org, to ensure that consumer rights and welfare are protected and advanced.”

Kuryente.org is also urging the public to document their experiences in order to build cases for accountability and put corrective measures in place.

“It seems that the greed of Meralco knows no bounds. After overcharging the public at the height of the pandemic, they are now sending personnel to their rounds – threatening people with disconnection, despite its earlier announcement of an extension. We condemn this apparent publicity stunt, and expect a full blown internal investigation by Meralco if they claim that this is an isolated incident.” Satur ended.

In August 2020, the Energy Regulatory Commission fined Meralco PhP 19-Million for failure to comply with the energy regulators’ advisories during the community quarantine from March to July 2020. On the same year, Meralco was also ordered to refund PhP 1.4 Billion worth of overcollections of pass-through charges from January 2017 to December 2019.

Nic Satur Jr.

Nic Satur Jr. is the National Coordinator of Kuryente.org, a consumer advocacy group focusing on energy issues. He can be reached through 0927-1448048; info@kuryente.org.