The Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (PHILRECA) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to provide complete information on consumer complaints lodged against electric cooperatives (ECs).
Janeene Depay-Colingan, PHILRECA executive director and general manager, said full disclosure will enable ECs to properly address consumer complaints.
The ERC said there are 52 complaints involving 34 ECs and Colingan said majority of these complaints are presumably about high billing and related concerns, technical concerns like power interruptions as well as administrative or institutional like service application requirements.
“As regards high billing, ECs have been continuously doing information campaign as to why most of the consumers probably experienced increases in their billing/consumption. In addition to the quarantine restrictions that happened during the months of March until now, these past few months are historically the period when consumption increases due to the summer season,” Colingan said.
PHILRECA assured that ECs will continue to provide consumers affordable power rates compared to other distribution utilities.
The group saod ECs only charge its member-consumer-owners for its distribution system and services a little over P1 for every kilowatt hour consumption reflected in their electricity bills.
