MANILA, Philippines — Some customers of Maynilad Water Services Inc. residing in the south are entitled to receive rebates after the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System-Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) slapped a P27-million fine for failing to supply uninterrupted 24-hour water.
In a virtual briefing yesterday, MWSS-RO officer-in-charge Lee Robert Britanico said Maynilad was directed to rebate P27.48 million to customers covered by the Putatan water treatment plant (PWTP) supply zone who were deprived of uninterrupted 24-hour water service from December last year to January 2023.
The PWTP supply zone covers the southern portion of Maynilad’s concession area, specifically in Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Parañaque and portions of Cavite.
“We are still validating the total number of affected customers. That’s why we are scheduling [a public information drive to discuss] the other details on Jan. 31. But this will be implemented by February, to reflect in the customers’ water bills next month,” Britanico said.
“The initial amount was around P18 million. This was determined because of the amount that they needed to spend to address the issue initially. But from our determination, we also saw there are some other factors, not just the amount, to address the problem. That’s why we came out with the P27 million,” Britanico said.
Maynilad said it agreed with the MWSS-RO on the rebate after the regulator reviewed the causes of the service interruptions and affected areas in the south.
“Since the individual rebate amount depends on the experience in the specific areas, it is best for customers to get the details from the public information drive of the MWSS-RO,” Maynilad said.
The water service interruptions in the Putatan water treatment plant supply zone were due to the reduced production “resulting from a damaged sludge removal equipment, coupled with a rise in turbidity levels of the raw water from Laguna Lake.”
This is the third time Maynilad was penalized by the regulator.
“We penalized them in 2022 for a different problem in Putatan. And in December 2022, we penalized them again for a different problem in Putatan,” Britanico said.
Customers complained of water interruptions in the PWTP’s supply area from December 2021 to February 2022.
For this, Maynilad was slapped with a P63.97-million penalty, translating to a bill rebate of P323 per water bill to 198,315 customers.
The water utility firm was again penalized with a P9.2-million fine for prolonged service interruptions May to July last year in the same supply zone.
The penalty was implemented in the form of bill rebates of P64.71, reflected in the November bills of 143,167 customers.
Maynilad said the water interruptions then were caused by the algal bloom in Laguna Lake which severely affected the water production of its Putatan water treatment plants, and delays in the delivery of algae mitigating equipment.
Laguna Lake, which provides eight percent of Maynilad’s raw water supply, is experiencing changes in its water quality due to the impacts of climate change and the leaching of chemical pollutants, making water treatment all the more challenging, it said.
The company said it is investing in treatment technology upgrades for Putatan plants to help improve and maintain water production.
As of yesterday morning, MWSS-RO said Maynilad is now operating the PWTP at normal capacity.
“If there are still water service interruptions that are unusual, customers are urged to report it to Maynilad. If this remains unactioned, don’t hesitate to report to MWSS-RO,” Britanico said.
Meanwhile, Maynilad said maintenance activities at its water treatment plants in Putatan, Muntinlupa are ongoing.