Consumers caught in the middle

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

In the legal tug-of-war over Iloilo City’s power distribution, customers are torn between which company to deal with.

Will it be Panay Electric Company (PECO) or its rival MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), which has taken possession of the former’s assets?

On Monday, MORE Power officially opened its “MORE Power Customer Services Office,” at Gen. Luna Street, City Proper district, Iloilo City.

Incidentally, Gen. Luna Street is also the address of PECO’s main office.

MORE Power president and COO Roel Castro announced that they are now accepting customer inquiries.

Castro claimed that since evening of Feb 28, 2020, they have already set up a center to cater to phone inquiries and requests for troubleshooting by consumers.

As of 11:50 a.m. of Monday, 72 customers showed and received queries from application to change of registered customer.

As the office is relatively new, MORE employees entertained customers at a makeshift place where they were served with food and drinks.

“We are opening ourselves to consumers. But as far as the distribution coverage, it started Friday evening. This is the start of our commitment, as well as our responsibility as provided by franchise,” Castro said.

But PECO also stands by to its commitment to continue serving consumers.

On Sunday, PECO posted on its Facebook page that it’s still business as usual on their part.

The post reads, “despite the current events, the PECO main office building will be open as usual from Monday to Friday starting 7:30 am to 5 pm. You may still transact your applications, billing inquiries, payments and other matters related to the main office during weekdays.”

It added, “for clarification purposes, MORE has no existing contracts with PECO’s power suppliers and thus has no electricity to sell. Therefor they cannot bill PECO’s valued consumers for the power being distributed from the generation companies with existing contracts with PECO. MORE may have possession of PECO’s substations and other equipment but does not own a single substation or equipment of PECO until many matters in the courts are resolved.”

“In addition, MORE has no ERC approved rates in order to bill any of PECO’s present consumers.”

PECO also said it is exhausting all legal remedies in order to bring the power distribution situation back to normal in Iloilo City.

When PECO was asked about pending applications, it claimed that “all applications with PECO are still being accepted since it is still premature not to accept applications. Many things are still pending in court and they still have to be resolved.”

PECO also insisted that all transactions, such as bill payment, are being processed in its office.

“PECO is the one who has an existing contract to power suppliers and MORE has no ERC approved rates in order to bill any of PECO’s present consumers.”

 

METER READING CUT OFF 

After taking over PECO assets via a Writ of Possession (WOP) from the Regional Trial Court on Friday, MORE Power announced its meter reading cut off.

Castro said that electricity consumption prior to MORE’S reading would still be paid to PECO.

As of Monday, he said that they already completed reading the meters of around 63,000 customers.

He said they deployed 300 to 400 meter readers.

But with the billing cycle at the 56th or 72nd day, customers who consumed electricity might be able to receive their bill issued by MORE in the later part of April, at the earliest.

However, when a consumer asked PECO about MORE personnel doing the reading for the April billing, PECO said they are still the power distributor in Iloilo City.

“Please don’t get misled by such information from them. Many things are still pending in court and they still have to be resolved first.”

But Castro clarified that while customers might not get their bill by March, the April bill would show their consumption since their meter was read by MORE people.

 

COMMON GROUND 

Amid the conflicting statements, PECO and MORE might have found a common ground: who will be responsible for the troubleshooting works.

PECO said that “MORE should be responsible enough to troubleshoot problems since they have held up a portion of PECO’s vehicles and materials aside from taking control of PECO’s substations. We can still help monitor the trouble calls and messages to assist our valued consumers. We will update all consumers when things have gone back to normal.”

Castro also said yesterday that they have responded to 39 calls in the first eight hours of their hotline operation.

“Our crew are outside and are promptly responding to the needs of our consumers,” he said.

Declaring that they have enough personnel to respond to customer concerns, Castro assured Ilonggos of better service.

“The kind that you deserve,” he said.