'The Dis-Charge Revolt'

“Kuyang, have you seen your latest Meralco bill?”

Given their no choice situation, many Meralco customers are understandably upset about their latest Meralco bill because light and power have come to their homes at an “unusually high price.

Once again, we are experiencing the annually painful experience of having no choice; we have no choice from whom to buy electricity, although that’s what government and politicians promised they would do.

We have no choice but to use more electricity because the summer heat has been unusually severe, we have no choice but to pay our bills because Meralco not only keeps a large users deposit which they never give back any interest on, but they also have the power, and will use the power to cut our electric service.

The Arroyo administration, along with Senators and Congressmen made a lot of noise, harassed a lot of power producers along with regulatory officials and promised to correct this unjust monopolistic situation. In the end, these double-crossing politicians gained our sympathy but sold us out to the highest bidders.

Their popularity increased because of their false promises, which they are now using as capital for election or re-election. What would we discover if we spend the next three years investigating how the ownership of Meralco shares changed after the feud between the Lopezes, Winston Garcia, and Manny Pangilinan died down?

Would we see political names or their dummy corporations acquiring sizeable shares of stocks? Who among Senators and Congressmen own shares of stock in Meralco by proxy or fraud, and would ownership constitute conflict of interest, violation of the anti-trust law, or proof that they were paid off to “BACK OFF”.

Would it be a stretch of the imagination to suspect that those Senators and Congressmen are a few million pesos richer in their campaign funds!

We the voters and consumers now have to reimburse businessmen for their “voluntary” contributions just to get the politicians off their backs. So now our electricity costs more than it did before all those accursed congressional investigations.

In fairness to Meralco they did spend a few thousand pesos along with free radio interviews, to warn us that they were about to rape our wallets and totally ruin our household budget if we did not watch our appetite for electricity. They also made an extra effort to acquit themselves of any wrongdoing because; they are merely an accessory to the exorbitant charges of their incestuous associates in the power industry.

So if you are so addicted to using fossil fuel and air-conditioning, then it’s only fair that you pay the price for your addiction.

But what about the ordinary people who have done everything to cut their consumption? What about people who simply can’t do anything more to increase their capacity to pay?

The poorer the bracket, the more certain I am that more houses will go up in flames. Every time electricity costs go up, there are house that burn because the occupants have to make do with candles. On the other hand the higher the income bracket, the truth is, they will conserve for two weeks tops. Then they will all go back to their usual consumption.

Some people are talking about consumers fighting back. Malacanang has already thrown the blame at Meralco and the Lopezes. A text has started to go around that attempts to put the blame on Manny Pangilinan’s buy-in and management style as one of the reasons for the price increase. Meralco blames the power producers.

Perhaps we should simply follow what Meralco tells us to do but do it pro-actively. They say that we should try to be smarter consumer and to cut usage in every possible manner.

So please consider this as a formal invitation to join a very responsible consumer revolt. If you’re fed up with working for the power companies, then spend the next week or month studying and restyling your electric consumption.

There is no point blaming people for your “bad habits” or your addiction.

Join us in the “Dis-Charge Revolt”.

This revolution is not about attacking or criticizing Meralco. That gets you nowhere and you simply give the politicians to collect more money or more shares by political extortion.

As a member of the “Dis-Charge Revolt” you attack your electric consumption with the sole and definite purpose of reducing how much electricity you use up. You can either aim to cut back consumption, or reduce the amount you pay by setting the percentage or the price. Shoot for 500 to two thousand pesos. It’s very possible and easy to do.

This month we will move to another room that has windows to the morning sun. That way we have a room that does not need air conditioning in the afternoon. And allows us to open air conditioning later in the evening. To cut the heat and use of air cons, we are now installing shade nets in front of windows. This allows wind through but drastically cuts sunlight and heat.    

Radical pro-active response is not about how you do it but the fact that you achieve a target. In this case that would be cutting back your electricity consumption by at least an hour a day.

Impossible? NO.

Many Metro Manila residents actually did it twice when they participated in the global effort to reduce global warming by turning off the lights two years running.

If you can cut back to support an NGO, you can certainly cut back electric consumption in order to save your hard earned money! Don’t fight with the electric company; just dis-charge your greed for (electric) power.