Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is further adjusting its computation of consumers’ electricity bills in light of the still-ongoing COVID-19 situation.
Following its previous announcement of the 30-day extension for bills payment due from Mar. 1 to Apr. 14, the company stated that it will be tweaking its way of calculating electricity usage for the meantime as the virus continues to spread.
[READ: You can check utilities off of the things you need to worry about during the lockdown]
According to Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga, bills dated Mar. 17 to Apr. 14 will be based on the average consumption for the past three months as the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine continues.
Due to the restricted movement of people during the enhanced community quarantine, the power distributor halted the reading of electricity consumption of customers for the current billing period.
During the Laging Handa press briefing, Zaldarriaga also stated that once the situation in the country returns to normal after the quarantine period, whatever the deficit or the excess in the actual consumption will be adjusted by Meralco in the next billing cycle.
The company also assured customers that there will be no power interruptions during the quarantine period.
“Meralco will continue to keep the lights on. We will continue serving our customers. We postponed maintenance and upgrading schedules of our distribution facilities so we can focus on providing adequate power supply to our customers,” Zaldarriaga added.
With this, consumers can rest their worries about the status of their utilities for the meantime and concentrate on staying safe at home to eventually stop the spread of COVID-19.
Header photo by Fré Sonneveld on Unsplash
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