Meralco on track for launch of prepaid scheme

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distribution company, is on track with the commercial launch of its prepaid retail electricity scheme in December, a ranking official said.

“We are integrating the system by June and July to bring us to commercial pilot stage by the late third quarter and have the commercial launch as planned by December,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, senior vice president and head of customer retail services of Meralco, in a recent briefing on the project.

He said Meralco is already threshing out tie-ups with telecommunication companies for an e-loading scheme.

The company is also working with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the details of the prepaid proposal and final approval.

Meralco hopes to cover around 100 to 200 households for the technical pilot testing and at the larger-scale commercial pilot testing with around 2,000 households.

Households availing of the program can go to Meralco business centers to reload but eventually, Meralco would allow reloading in Bayad Centers and Smart centers nationwide.

For the full rollout, Meralco is targeting to cover 40,000 households and has allotted a budget of $7 million for the whole system.

The pilot activities are meant to determine the viability of the planned prepaid platforms, the prepaid meters and the possible trouble-shooting mechanisms.

Meralco decided to provide a prepaid retail electricity scheme to its consumers to allow them to budget their electricity consumption as well as expenses. It would also enable them to monitor their electricity consumption as it happens.

The prepaid meter systems can tell consumers if their prepaid load is still enough for a given period and thus warn them if they need to reload to avoid disconnection.

Meralco signed in October last year a prepaid electricity system deal with GE to facilitate the prepaid platform.

A prepaid electricity system exists in other countries such as Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.