Pre-paid electricity coming soon?
By Donnabelle Gatdula
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) yesterday released the draft rules for the implementation of prepaid electricity similar to prepaid cellular telephones.

ERC believes that the adoption of the prepaid electricity scheme would help cut down systems losses and eventually lower power rates.

Under the proposed rules, prepaid meters to be offered to the public would be able to store electricity for at least two months.

The rates to be applied in any prepaid transaction “should be based on the previous month’s postpaid rate.”

The scheme will not affect subsidized rates for households consuming less than 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month.

To protect consumers, ERC said distribution utilities, like the Manila Electric Co., will shoulder the cost of prepaid meters and no deposits will be collected for this.

ERC said they would conduct public consultations on the proposed draft rules.

“All interested parties may submit their comments, in both hard and soft copies, on the proposed rules on or before Aug. 15, 2008,” the ERC said.

Public consultations are scheduled on Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 for electric utilities based in Mindanao and the Visayas at the National Transmission Corp. Banilad substation in Cebu City and those in Luzon in the ERC’s main office in Pasig City.

A prepaid scheme is also available in the oil sector. Just like in the cell phone industry, offering prepaid cards enables consumers to manage their consumption.

Recently, Seaoil Philippines Inc. launched its “Price Lock Fuel Prepaid Card,” which offers premium and unleaded gasoline at a rate locked at a certain level for a given period of time. The scheme was successful and prompted Seaoil to extend the implementation of the promotion period.

Seaoil’s prepaid card helps cardholders budget their fuel consumption and also insulates them from the continued increase in the prices of gasoline during the promo period.

The idea for prepaid electricity was raised by Meralco officials during a meeting with President Arroyo last May.

Meralco had been studying the scheme for some years now.

Meralco believed that the use of a system of prepaid electricity would help address the problems of pilferage, which adds to the systems charge in consumers’ monthly electricity bills.

Once the ERC issued the guidelines on the scheme, he said the distribution utilities could come up with their respective applications if they will implement the scheme.

A prepaid electricity meter system will use the same concept as prepaid cellular phones and phone cards where consumers pay in advance for their consumption, according to Meralco treasurer Rafael Andrada.

“Everything is being studied thoroughly as one of our concerns is that it would be labeled anti-poor because you have to pay first before you can use (electricity), unlike now that it would be used first before collection,” Andrada said.

Meralco also wants to ensure that the meters would be tamper-free.

Ivanna de la Peña, Meralco head of utility economics, earlier said that aside from South Africa, the prepaid meter system has been successfully implemented in China and the United States.

“We are considering it because it’s also viewed as a solution to collection problem and delinquency,” Dela Peña said. :huh:

:thumb: :thumb: even our LPG here in china are prepaid card....

swipe lang sa metro... :thumb: baratu lang galing LPG diri...2 month maconsume namun isa lang ka prepaid card worth 50 yuan = P325+

if only philippines has its natural gas system catered to serve the public..... kaso diri sa pinas delikado ang pre-paid nga LPG.... panigtaan gid na ya paagi sang pinoy nga maka tap illegally.... kag you know what will happen kung sala ang pagtap sa system....


while on topic, daw indi ako pabor sa pre-paid nga electricity sa balay ko... unless may running meter ka to monitor your "load" from time to time...

:thumb:

pabor sa ako sa pre-paid electricity kay maka save kag ma avoid ang mga pilferages nga gahitabu. it that way mas mahapos mag budget sg expenses sa balay.