Meralco, Maynilad, and Manila Water covers Metro Manila and some neighboring areas and will begin issuing disconnection notices in the coming days.
This is after the cut off of utility services in households was suspended due to the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown on Filipinos’ livelihood.
Utility companies will follow processes once a customer receives a disconnection notice. Manila Water will issue a disconnection notice three times before it ends up being cut off.
“Kung after 3 times at wala pa ring tumatanggap nang personal, ito ay nire-register mail natin but ideally dapat pag ‘sinerve’ ang notice of disconnection ‘yung customer o kung sino man ang representative nila ay personal na tatanggapin ito,” said Manila Water spokesman Jeric Sevilla.
Maynilad will begin issuing a disconnection notice next week.
The Metropolitan Manila Sewerage Systems Regulatory Office reminds that disconnection notice can be issued to any of the customer’s household members. Consumers have three chances to pay their balance before the cut-off.
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Issuance of disconnection notice for unpaid water, electric bill to begin
“‘Yung first bill niyo 60 days before the notice of disconnection that can be served to you, the second bill, ‘yung next bill after the unpaid bill na may nakalagay na unpaid bill kayo, then ang notice of disconnection na po,” saod Patrick Ty, MWSS chief regulator.
At Meralco, bills from March 16 to May 31 and August 4 to August 18 can be paid in installments.
This is in accordance with the grace period implemented by the government due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga assured that there would be a process to follow and that power cuts will not be sudden.
“Hindi naman yan agaran, in terms of antemano ay puputulan mo agad, hindi po, may proseso po ‘yan. May mga notisya po silang tatanggapin at di kami basta basta magpuputol nang walang basehan,” said Zaldarriaga.
Meralco‘s disconnection notice comes after the due date. The customer has 5 days to pay for it before returning to the cut.