Meralco apologizes for bill shock

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has apologized for the so-called “bill shock” as it assured customers that the P47 convenience fee for online payments will be waived, aside from a swift refund for any overcharging.

- PAOLO ROMERO

Meralco president and chief executive officer Ray Espinosa told the Senate committee on energy that the country’s largest distribution utility (DU) is doing its best to ease the woes of its customers, who have complained about confusing or high billing during the quarantine period.

“Let me apologize for the continuing inconvenience to consumers brought about by the concerns on billing matters. We will double and triple our efforts to address them,” Espinosa told Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the committee, during its hearing via video conference. “We would like to assure all that all our efforts are poured into this direction.”

Espinosa said Meralco is deploying more people to its business centers and call centers to respond to all customer issues.