The Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) said on Wednesday that they will continue to adjust the electric bills of consumer-members as a result of the “estimates” done during the enhanced community quarantine.
“Admittedly, until now, there are a lot of questions on the bill and we are trying to address them individually. Tinitingnan namin yung actual ledger and if the system will show na ganito dapat ang reading, ganito dapat ang babayaran (We are looking at the actual ledger, and if the system will show the actual usage), we will adjust,” lawyer Delmar Cariño, manager for legal and community relations of Beneco, said
Cariño was speaker during the media seminar on “unbundling of rate” which is an activity of the cooperative as part of the 11th National Electrification month celebration.
He said that excess payments are not returned to the consumer-member but are credited to the succeeding bill.
Beneco is the sole electric distribution utility for Baguio and the whole of Benguet. It has 120,000 consumer-members.
Cariño said the issues on incorrect billing statements and overcharged electric bills have made headlines on national media but he assured that they are doing their best considering the situation and safety of their people.
“We are trying our very best to read (the electric meters) which we already started on the latter part of May and until now,” he said.
He said that considering the safety of the employees who read the electric meters and who also double as bill distributors, meter reading in areas declared by the local government units under lockdown are suspended until the declarations are lifted. This is the reason why there are times the billing period exceeds the 30 days allowable.
“Sunud-sunod ang lockdown. Sabi ng ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) actual reading but we have consulted management, we have consulted the safety officers, hindi kami magbabasa kung naka-lockdown and lugar (The implementation of lockdown areas came one after the other. The ERC wants us to do actual reading and we have consulted the management, the safety officers, and we agreed not to do meter reading in areas under lockdown),” he said.
The lawyer said that based on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and ERC regulations, electric meters should be read within 30 days but in case there is failure to do it due to valid reasons like the implementation of an enhanced community quarantine, the distribution utilities are allowed to make an estimate based on the average of three months meter reading periods.
He said that while the March and April electric consumption were just estimates, adjustments were done based on the actual reading.
Lanie Aquino, a resident of Barangay Irisan, said they did not receive their electric bill for March and April but knowing that later on they will have to pay, they opted to pay through the payment centers. When they received their bills, it already reflected the money they paid and they had a negative balance account.
She said the excess payment they paid was credited to their next bill.
Wanting to know the consumption as against the payments done to allay questions, Aquino said she proceeded to the Beneco office for verification and she was shown the ledger, allowing her to see the actual situation.
“Parehas naman ang lumalabas na consumption ko, normal yun na binabayaran namin kaya, wala akong nakitang problema at mae-explain nila sa iyo ang account mo (I have the same consumption which is normal as what I used to pay so there was no problem reconciling. They were able to clearly explain to me my account)” she said.
Cariño said that they will continue to adjust and clarify matters with the consumer-members.
“Pag naka dalawang reading na ganun, sunud-sunod na yun, regular na yun (if in two reading periods you already have a ‘normal consumption’ that will already continue),” he said. (PNA)
Photo Credit: www.benguet.gov.ph
