MABALACAT CITY – The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has asked the Pampanga Electric Cooperative 2 (Pelco 2) to explain complaints of unusual power hike reflected in the bills of consumers last May.
This was gathered by Punto from a letter emailed by Janet Quiazon, head of the regulatory management of Pelco 2, to a consumer which forwarded to the ERC a complaint about the issue.
In her letter, Quiazon cited the ERC and asked the complainant to furnish her office with names of complainants, their account numbers and route addresses in an apparent bid of the cooperative to explain the power hike to the regulatory body.
The ERC, in its website, describes itself as “a world class and independent electric power industry regulator that equitably promotes and protects the interests of consumers and other stakeholders, to enable the delivery of long-term benefits that contribute to sustained economic growth and an improved quality of life.”
Responding to Quiazon’s email, the complainant said “I am surprised though that despite the bills controversy, Pelco 2 seemingly never had a list of complaining consumers in any bid for at least a probe. Why, the Sangguniang Bayan of Porac town even called for a probe and this was published in the internet. In May and June, Facebook had no shortage of complaining consumers, too.”
“What this lack of response is saddening. Now that the ERC has intervened, you ask me for account names, account numbers and route addresses, data which Pelco 2 should have already sought had enough concern been manifested at the height of the controversy?” the complainant asked.
As Pelco 2 dismissed last May the power hike as arising from summer peak in power consumption, consumers in this city and six other Pampanga towns sought the intervention of Pres. Duterte. Their bills in May had catapulted by about 100 percent or, in some cases, several thousandfold.
Facebook then filled up with complaints from consumers of Pelco 2 which covers this city and the towns of Porac, Santa Rita, Bacolor, Lubao, Guagua, and Sasmuan.
The cooperative has about 65,000 consumers. Scores of consumers posted on Facebook their billings received in April and May for comparison. One consumer showed his last April bill costing P1,568.62 has shot up to as much as P85,298.34 in May.
Tony Cauguiran of the group Mabalacat Stop Corruption even started a phone text message drive asking consumers to air their complaints to Pres. Duterte himself via number 8888. The number was established under Duterte’s Executive Order No. 6 for people relay concerns to Citizens’ Hotline and Complaint Center.
In his Facebook account, Cauguiran appealed to Pelco 2 consumers to “unite, sacrifi ce and spend” P2.50 per text to the center. “Pelco 2 seems untouchable. What it’s doing is too much,” he said.
Retired teacher and actress Cecille Yumul, a resident of Barangay Lakandula here, said Pelco 2 power consumption meters might have been “shaken to run wild during the last April 22 earthquake.”
Punto! At that time called up Pelco 2 via two landline numbers indicated in website pelco2.com, but no one answered.
Consumers blamed
In the publication Balacat News, however, Pelco 2 reacted to the complaints and virtually blamed consumers for practices that lead to higher bills, such as unplugging appliances not being used or using appliances which are too old. It also attributed in high bills to the use of cooking appliances amid hot weather.
Pelco 2 also passed on the higher electricity rates to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) which was launched by the Department of Energy way back in 2006.
Ironically, the creation of the WESM was intended to bring down the cost of electricity by allowing the sale and purchase of electricity supplies everyday for every given hour.
But consumers debunked Pelco 2’s explanations. One consumer said he had been taking care of the bills of a former neighbor whose house had already been demolished for a still pending new structure but whose electric meter was retained to avoid the difficulties of power line reconnection. He noted that from less than P3 per month of billing for power meter maintenance, the absentee neighbor’s bill rose to over P4,000 for last May.
Consumer Rio Precious Ursal, in her Facebook account also noted her bill of P764 last April jacked up to P2,842 in May. “Are we consuming too much electricity or is it you charging us to much?” she asked.
Ma. Luisa Carvajal Buenaventura noted: “IIsang linggo pa lang kami nag-stay sa bahay namin, ang dating P60 na binabayad namin biglang naging P559.66 na. Sobrang pagtaas yata yan, di makatarungan.”
Another case is that of consumer Chaddy Guttierez who said that apart from his suddenly big electric bill, his billing last May also indicated he had arrears which he denied.
