Meralco pulls plug on Beltran for refusing to pay PPA

For refusing to pay the controversial purchase power adjustment (PPA) component of his electricity bill, it was lights out for party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran of Bayan Muna.

Beltran, chairman of the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), will have to go without electricity for now after four linemen from the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) disconnected the electric service to his house located near Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Beltran told reporters that he allowed the linemen to do their job but not after asking them to give him 10 minutes to iron his barong Tagalog, which he would wear for yesterday’s House session.

He said the Meralco personnel readily agreed to his request.

Beltran is leading the fight to abolish the PPA and has unpaid electric bills amounting to P14,602.26. The Meralco account is under the name of his wife Rosario.

Since April this year, he has attempted to pay only the basic charge of his monthly bill, excluding the PPA, which he describes as "anomalous, illegal and onerous."

However, the Meralco office along Commonwealth Avenue has repeatedly rejected his partial payment.

"It goes against my principles to fork over my family’s hard-earned income to pay for something we did not use," he said in a statement, referring to the PPA, which is being lobbied in Congress to be abolished.

The consumer coalition People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (Power) applauded Beltran’s defiant stand against the PPA.

"We applaud Ka Bel for standing up to Meralco and the PPA even at the cost of inconvenience to himself and his family," said Power convenor Renato Reyes Jr. "This would only justify the people’s demand that this onerous and scandalous surcharge on unused electricity be removed as soon as possible."Reyes urged Beltran’s colleagues to reconsider and take back to the center of debate the immediate abolition of the PPA, which he says continues to milk hard-earned income from the people.

Earlier, KMU members set up a barricade at the labor leader’s house to prevent Meralco from enforcing the disconnection notice. But with the dismantling of the barricade a few days ago, Meralco linemen successfully implemented the disconnection order.