Service Article Paper: Meralco Begins Discussions for Prepaid Metering

A. Brief Summary of the article

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has begun talks with potential partners for its proposed prepaid and postpaid smart metering services. Oscar Reyes, Meralco Chief Operating Officer, said the company has approached some North American, European and Asian firms that are engaged in these kinds of technologies. Once the company has set up these services, Meralco customers would be able to monitor and control their electricity consumption. The Energy Regulatory Commission earlier issued draft rules for prepaid metering to pave the way for its use in the country. Under the proposed rules, consumers may voluntarily subscribe to prepaid meters, which could warn them when their available electricity "load" is nearing zero to avoid automatic disconnection. Alfred Panlilio, Meralco's customer retail services and corporate marketing head, said the utility is now in the process of conducting pilot tests on the prepaid meters.

B. How it relates to the Key Concepts

The news talks about the proposed advanced metering services. The key concept I could link with this is how service companies should provide a supplementary service to its customers. The issue here pertains to the Billing and payment of Meralco services. In the future, when the proposal is successfully implemented, this will going to be a big change, therefore, it is the job of Meralco to disseminate information about the big change. These fall under the facilitating service. Also, customers are accustomed to the old "billing service", maybe even the company itself. They wait for the bill, sees the amount, then pay. No more. No less. Errors could happen. The company must prevent or outdo errors by doing consultation. The customers will badly need it for sure. Consultaion falls under the enhancing service.

C. Personal Evaluation/Reaction

This is good news for the customers of Meralco and that means to the entire electricity users of the country. It says all over how much the customers would benefit in controlling their electricity consumption. Meralco just provided empowerment to their precious customers. Another, the proposal could reduce paper waste since the company will be using less paper in billing account. Less effort would be needed for the company to deliver the billings. Hence, there will less charge of fees from the customers. Moreover, I can see now how the Philippine is advancing its technology by reaching and learning from the pros (the developing countries). I can't think of any negative effect of the proposal, as of now. I just hope that with this proposal, comes an effective implementation soon. And that it could lead to a big step for the Philippine companies to follow and innovate to enhance the standard of living in the country.