All these talk about Meralco and the high cost of electricity has made me wonder what the average Filipino household’s power bill looks like.
To make the comparison fair, why don’t we divide our electricity bill with the number of persons living in the house, including babies. I think the little darlings consume a bigger amount of electricity compared with the average person (need for airconditioning etc.)
For April, I paid P805.88 per person.
How does that compare with yours?
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Meralco shares went into a nosedive today after news of a possible investigation (good luck with making it look like a friendly Q&A) by Congress into how Meralco runs the show. If there’s anyone in the audience who doesn’t know that this is politically driven, raise your hand.
No hands?
If this entire hullabaloo actually brings down my electricity bill, goodie. But here’s a So What Chocnut snippet that people should not miss.
Exactly 20% of that electricity bill goes to Meralco. If you look at your bill, you will see the biggest portion is called generation charge, which goes to the independent power producers and the National Power Corp.
Yes, that means the government.
That simply means the power to bring down electricity rates is in the government’s hands. And that should make you wonder what the administration is trying to do. This early, the business community is already worried. Of course they are not buying the we-want-to-drive-down-electricity-costs-for-poor-Filipinos line. Former central bank governor and AIG’s standard bearer Joey Cuisia has already been interviewed on television saying, “After Meralco, who next?” Not good for business confidence.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Emman, Meralco is a publicly listed company. It is heavily audited and its books should be open to the public. Having said that, common sense also dictates that it can do much to lessen the power costs to its consumers. Have you heard how it passes on its own consumption costs to us consumers? That was pretty damaging, I think. There are a lot of issues surrounding electricity rates and hopefully we will understand more about them in the coming days. Abangan…
May 13th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Chris, thanks for your answer. The meter should tell you. I do the same for my water consumption. Turn off everything that consumes power and if the meter is still running, then you have a parasite. Any other tips out there?
May 12th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Approximately P2750 per person. How do I detect if there is someone “riding” on my electricity bill?
May 10th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Obviously, MERALCO is over-charging their consumers. If they’re not hiding something then why are they scared to open their books?
May 10th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
In Manila, my wife paid about PhP525 per head for their electricity. She told me that they seldom use appliances just to lessen electicity consumption. Aircon (.75hp) from 8pm to 5 am. Washing machine very seldom she resort to hand washing and yet they still pay too much. Why? Why? Meralco.