chuvaness

ZsaZsa Padilla Padilla's tweet yesterday was interesting, and I know I shouldn't say this, but I'm happy to hear when people's bills are higher than mine. (enlarge)



Last Monday I got a special visit from Meralco people in my home.
When I received a call that they wanted to talk to me, I thought there would be three people coming. I was really shocked when I saw a legion of engineers and managers in my living room. Kidding. OK, so maybe there were six people.





We had a cordial meeting. I invited my cousin-in-law John-D Borra and mommy blogger Noemi Dado to the mini "town hall meeting."



We began outside by checking the meters. There were two ten minute tests to determine if our meters were running normally.











The bad news is: the meter was normal. Our consumption really went up by more than 600 kw.
You can request a free meter check once every two years if you have doubts about it. Just call Meralco.
Nandy Padua explains my bill to us.



We had a sit down meeting outside the house.
Under normal circumstance I would've invited them inside but the house was an oven.
I would've turned the aircon on. But since the meeting was about electricity, we chose to stay outside.
I was able to ask all questions in my head.
Basically I learned there are many private power sources that supply to Meralco and Meralco is just the distributor. Hence, the distribution fee, check your bill.
The price hike is dictated by the power sources with permission from the government.
Solution: vote wisely and pray for good government.



One of the main factors is El Niño or the drought we are currently going through. The hydro power sources cannot operate, so they are using fossil fuel which is more expensive.
Solution: pray for rain! And save water.

The law of supply and demand is also a factor. The more people use electricity, the less power supply, hence the (excuse to jack up) higher price.
Solution: we have to cut down. Unfortunately, in this heat, that's quite a sacrifice.

We also discussed the other factors controlled by certain powerful people but my brain cannot process. I think Noemi Dado can better explain. http://www.wesm.ph/

Meralco manager Mr. Santillan is also an aircon expert, aircon usually the number one energy guzzler in the house.



Here's what I gathered:
1) Inverter aircons which are new to the market can help lower your bill. Panasonic is a good brand, though I think Carrier has them too. One woman had a PHP 60,000 bill. When she switched to an inverter aircon, her bill became PHP 30,000.
2) A new aircon will work better than an old aircon obviously. So my ten-year-old window type aircon downstairs has to go, even if it's still cold. Will switch to inverter aircon, even though they cost more.
3) Inverter aircons are split type, but the cost of running them is just as much as a window type.
4) Don't turn on and off your aircon many times. Everytime you turn on your aircon your electricity spikes up. So if you're leaving the room for a while, just leave it at a lower setting.

Will explain inverter aircons when I have more info.
There's more but I have to go to my hairstylist now.
Let me leave you with something John-D wrote about the meeting.


By John-D Borra

The good news is that the ability to lower our electricity bills is well within our grasp. The general principle behind this assertion may be found in a poster that I once saw in the faculty room of the Ateneo de Manila High School: "Live simply, so that others may simply live." Based on the explanation of the Meralco representatives earlier, two factors were responsible for the spike in our most recent electricity bills: (1) increased consumption by the consumer and (2) generation costs. Let's begin by trying to understand how we can minimize consumption, or how "to live simply".

Moderating consumer consumption can be done in two ways: (1) by adopting simple and effective energy conservation practices and (2) by taking advantage of TOU or Time of Use billing. These simple energy practices range from the selection of appropriate cooling units (like split type airconditioning units with inverters) or setting the thermostat 1 degree lower, which results in 10% less electrical consumption. Meralco's website offers quite a number of practical tips that could help consumers minimize electrical usage. TOU billing operates on the same principle as planning a vacation to Boracay. If you go during peak hours, you pay peak rates. If you go during the off-peak season, you pay considerably lower rates.

Our individual actions as responsible citizens could also form the basis for more lasting change. Let's try to understand how we can address high generation costs, or how "to live simply", that others might "simply live". Generation costs refer to the sources from which Meralco draws from to distribute electricity. From what I gathered earlier, there are three sources that Meralco draws from: (1) WESM or the Philippine Spot Electricity Market, (2) IPPs or Independent Power Producers, and (3) NPC or Napocor. The price of electricity depends largely on the volume of energy these three sources produce, as well as the kind of energy produced. In times of drought, for example, cheaper sources of energy such as hydro are unavailable from any of the three aforementioned sources, which results in both a lower volume and the need to get electricity from more expensively produced energy, such as coal or gas.

Essentially, we all draw from the same pool of electricity. By minimizing wasteful consumption, we address one factor that determines energy pricing: the amount of energy available for distribution. By minimizing wasteful consumption, we, in fact, enable more people to draw from the same pool at more or less the same cost. Our individual actions can be the catalyst for widespread, meaningful change for our fellow countrymen. By sharing our excess, and putting it back in the pool, we make other people's lives much better. Thus, the old children's adage is proven true: sharing is caring.

This doesn't mean that our government is off the hook. Government shortsightedness, which cannot be isolated to any particular presidential administration, is largely responsible for our lack of power. It seems that the Philippine government imposes high royalty taxes on our power producers, and this levied premium doesn't seem to reach those who need it the most: the majority of Filipinos who still lack basic goods and services. There's a lot that has to be done.

Still, I remain optimistic. Anytime that you find yourself in a situation where the solution to the problem is largely up to you, then hope springs eternal.


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