The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has announced that it will now waive the PHP 47 convenience fee it has been charging customers for paying their electricity bills online amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
This decision was made after the company was questioned by the Department of Energy for charging the said fee for a service that was supposed to make things much safer and more convenient for customers.
“Waived na ‘yan, so pwede na gamitin ‘yan na hindi sila nangangamba na machacharge pa (It’s already been waived so you can now use [the Meralco Online platform] without worrying about getting charged),” said Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga in an interview with DZMM TeleRadyo on Thursday, May 21.
He also confirmed that all those who were charged the convenience fee will be refunded. “‘Yung mga nacharge during the said period, i-re-refund namin ‘yan. Iisa-isahin namin ‘yung mga naapektuhan nito para naman sa ganun, what is due them, kahit naibayad na nila ‘yung PHP 47, ay maibalik sa kanila. (Those who were charged during the said period will be refunded. We will determine one by one who were affected so that what is due to them, even if the PHP 47 fee was already paid, will be returned to them.)”
Meralco will be shouldering the cost, which they clarified went to its third-party app service provider, for the whole period of the enhanced community quarantine.
(ALSO READ: Meralco Explains the ‘Bill Shock’ You Might Have Experienced Lately)
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