VECO launches pre-paid distribution of electricity

The Visayan Electric Company plans to test pre-paid electricity meters in Cebu either in the third quarter or fourth quarter of this year.

VECO senior vice president and chief operating officer Jaime Jose Aboitiz said in a press conference yesterday that a pre-paid electricity meter uses the same concept of prepared cellular phones and phone cards where consumers pay in advance for their power consumption.

“We want to have a pilot project in Cebu, maybe in the third or fourth quarter this year,” Aboitiz said.

He added that to date, they are still studying how to do about this project, which is aimed at promoting responsible power usage.

Aboitiz said that they have decided to venture into this project in Cebu to address concerns of customers like power disconnections and reconnections.

VECO is currently charging P10 only as reconnection fee, a process that costs them a lot financially.

“P10 is so cheap, very cheap.  But for us, it’s difficult on our part and very costly,” Aboitiz said.

He explained that with the use of pre-paid electricity, there is no need for VECO personnel to go to the house of a customer to disconnect a power line in case of non-payment, then reconnect it again after two days.

Aside from that, once the pre-paid electricity is implemented, they do not have to visit homes to read electric meters.

With the pre-paid electricity, a consumer will just buy cards which hold information on equivalent money value in fixed peso rates and this will be entered into a pre-paid electric meter using a keypad.

 Aboitiz further said that as of now they are still waiting for the guidelines to be set by the Energy Regulatory Commission before they can fully implement the pre-paid meter system. 

He added the pre-paid meter system has been successfully implemented in South Africa and China. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP