Helping enterprises ease into new normal
7 Ways Meralco is helping enterprises ease into the new normal
by Cris Laraño
Executives of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) conducted a series of webinars to address its enterprise customers’ concerns, which arose during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed by the government to contain the spread of the dreaded Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19).
Hundreds of participants from manufacturing companies, real estate firms, banks, schools and from various business and industry associations joined the virtual meetings from May 27 to 29 to discuss steps taken by Meralco, as guided by other energy industry stakeholders to ease the burden of business customers severely affected by the enforcement of the ECQ rules.
Related: Meralco Supports the Fight Against Covid-19
These webinars were “means to dialogue with our customers, and take this opportunity to share with you what has been happening to Meralco in the last 10 weeks, our efforts to support our customers, and help our country in saving lives,” says Ma. Cecilia Domingo, Meralco vice president and head of the corporate business group in her opening remarks.
1. Updating ECQ bills to reflect actual consumption.
Meralco advised customers to wait for their updated bills that will include their actual consumption during the ECQ. The utility did not deploy most of its meter readers during said period to protect their and the customers’s health, thus resorting to consumption estimates as provided by government regulation. Meralco has been able to gradually redeploy its meter readers since early April.
2. Minimum contracted charge is suspended until June 30.
The Guaranteed Minimum Billing Demand (GMBD) charges, or the minimum amount of power that business customers are contractually obligated to pay even if they didn’t use the power, is suspended until the end of June. They will only be charged for their actual demand. The annual GMBD is 70 percent of the business enterprise's contracted capacity.
3. Customers may renegotiate their GMBD.
Meralco is ready to discuss with customers possible adjustments in their GMBD and contracted capacity in the face of the anticipated slowdown in economic activity due to Covid-19.
Government economic managers have projected the economy to contract between 2 percent and 3.4 percent because of the pandemic’s impact on business, including hospitality and leisure, retail, and transportation.
4. Generation charges for electricity bills are reduced during ECQ.
Because of the ECQ, Meralco has been able to initiate force majeure claims under offtake agreements with its power suppliers, resulting in lower generation charges for consumers for April and May. Force majeure claims will likely be invoked in May as well due to the ECQ extension, which will be reflected in the June rates.
The Energy Regulatory Commission also suspended the collection of a portion of universal charges and the feed-in-tariff allowance to reduce the cost of electricity.
5. Installment payments made available.
Meralco has offered an installment payment arrangement for any unpaid bill originally due from March 1 to May 31. This four- and six-month installment plan, was based on the customers’s kWh consumption in February, and will help manage their cash flows. Installment bills will be sent starting July.
6. Rollout of the Smart Grid system.
Businesses will benefit from a smart meter roll-out, an initiative under Meralco’s broader plan to develop a Smart Grid. The system will allow customers to manage their consumption and improve business plans for power efficiency. The Smart Grid will also make it easier for Meralco to monitor its network more effectively to prevent, among others, brownouts caused by circuit overload due to a sudden increase in demand, as what happened in many areas during the quarantine.
The Department of Energy approved in February the Smart Grid framework policy and will soon roll out the information, education and communication on the matter through webinars.
Related: Brownouts and Bill-shocks? Here’s the mother of all solutions
7. Continued service to #KeepTheLightsOn.
Meralco will continue to provide reliable and dependable power for business operations. Service applications, and other requests are now back and processes have been adjusted for the new normal.
Meralco is also working closely with local government units and enforcement authorities to discourage kite-flying activities that could potentially affect power lines and cause outages to businesses and homes alike.
Covid-19 has taught Meralco a great deal on the value of resiliency and responsiveness to customer concerns. Domingo encourages business enterprises to meet with their dedicated Relationship Managers to discuss other ways Meralco can help them, as they take stock of their business operations for the rest of the year. “We are all in this together.”
To learn more, contact your Relationship Manager, call 16210 or email us at corporatepartners@meralco.com.ph.
Story originally posted on Power Club.