The Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (PHILRECA) and the National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives (NAGMEC) are asking for clarification on a provision in the Bayanihan Act that mandates utility companies to implement relief on their customers.
The groups in their joint letter asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease to issue a clarification on the coverage of the 30-day grace period r for the payment of utilities falling due within the period of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or modified ECQ (MECQ) without incurring interests and penalties.
However, they said in the last sentence of the section, CQ alone was used instead of ECQ or MECQ.
PHILRECA and NAGMEC said the term CQ may be interpreted as any type of community quarantine including the least restrictive ones like the general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ which will have a huge economic impact to the entire power supply chain.
Electric cooperatives (ECs) are worried over the impact of such relief on their cashflow.
ECs get only 20 percent from the bills paid by consumers. – Jed Macapagal
