Meralco eyes mid-2015 rollout of prepaid power program

Manila Electric Co. hopes to launch its $7-million prepaid electricity program by the middle of this year so it can start expanding it by the end of 2015.

Meralco SVP and head of customer retail services Alfredo S. Panlilio said 40,000 prepaid meters would be initially rolled out and about 100,000 meters would follow by the end of the year.

Panlilio said the Energy Regulatory Commission had conducted a public hearing in March and the regulatory agency was hoped to approve the project soon.

In the meantime, he said, Meralco would roll out 40,000 prepaid meters for ‘’commercial pilot’’ all over Metro Manila. Once regulators approve the project, expansion will begin, he added.

Panlilio said Meralco wanted to finish the rollout for the initial 40,000 meters between June and December. The next 100,000 will be taken up following ERC approval and may be deployed outside Metro Manila depending on the arrangements with off-takers such as the National Housing Authority (NHA).

‘’Some of them (NHA lessee-beneficiaries) are in Bulacan. So we will do pocket deployments where we have density,’’ he said. NHA alone wants 30,000 to 40,000 meters, Panlilio said.

Meralco is currently working on a 10-year program to build a technology-supported network or ‘’smart grid’’ in its franchise area, which covers 5.5 million accounts serving about 25 million people.

The distribution utility is currently testing prepaid electricity, distribution automation and field crew mobility solutions that will be deployed system-wide when proven successful in their respective pilot areas.

The prepaid retail electricity service, or PRES, is one of the innovations introduced by the ERC to give consumers more control over their power spending.

Under the prepaid meter scheme, subscribers can monitor their electricity consumption in real time and their meter systems can alert them if and when the load is nearing zero to avoid automatic disconnection.

The distribution utility is spending more on infrastructure and systems improvements to be able to offer better services to its growing customer base, Meralco president and CEO Oscar S. Reyes said.