THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Friday ordered all distribution utilities (DUs) that are implementing bill deposits to stagger them into three equal installments in order to protect consumers from sudden bill shocks.
In an advisory, the ERC is directing all DUs to issue a written notice first to affected consumers, explaining the emphasis of the reimposition, the composition of the amount to be reimposed, and the consumers to pay it in three equal monthly installments.
The regulator continued that unless the consumer wants to pay it in full or if the DU allows a longer period, the reimposed bill deposit must be paid in three equal monthly installments.
Lastly, the ERC said that if the customer fails to pay the bill deposit, his or her connection will be disconnected.
According to Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) website, a bill deposit is an amount required from all customers of all distribution utilities as a guarantee for payment of electric bills, similar to a security deposit for a home.
It is usually equivalent to the estimated electricity consumption or number of appliances provided upon the application from the distribution utility’s electric service with us.
The bill deposit earns interest, in accordance with the existing rules of the ERC.
With regards to who are required to pay bill deposit, these are the new consumers applying for electric service; existing consumers applying for transfer of service; existing customers applying for an increase in load capacity; existing consumers with disconnected services applying for a reconnection, and who were previously not subjected to bill deposit; existing consumers whose actual average monthly consumption for the past twelve months increased by more than 10 percent of the initial or existing bill deposit; and existing consumers who have previously availed of the early refund of bill deposit due to good credit rating and those who later defaulted in payment of their monthly bill.
In relation to this matter, Meralco issued a statement on Friday and said it will comply with the ERC’s directive on the guidelines for the reimposition of bill deposits.
It also clarified that the current collection of bill deposits applies only to customers who previously received refunds of their bill deposits after two consecutive years of paying on or before due date, but subsequently missed their bill payments.
“To extend further relief to customers, we at Meralco have taken the initiative to defer the implementation of these bill deposits until next year and provide affected customers with an automatic six-month installment arrangement, longer than the three months prescribed under the guidelines,” Meralco SVP and Head of Regulatory Management Atty. Jose Ronald V. Valles said.
“We will also reflect the bill deposit as a separate line item in customers’ bills to provide greater clarity, and also will continue the automatic refund for customers with good credit standing,” he added.
