Meralco to offer prepaid electricity soon

And we thought prepaid was only for mobile phones!

It was quite a surprise hearing from the country’s main electricity distributor Meralco that they will be offering prepaid kuryente soon (and that’s hopefully before the end of the year!)

The words are from Meralco VP and chief IT architect (aka CIO) Marthyn Cuan who explained that they will be catering to certain market segments in need of prepaid service. Among these are those who have second homes and “informal settlers” who are not usually able to comply with paper requirements needed to apply for an electric meter.

I must say no harm done! Who knows if prepaid electricity will turn out to be cheaper since it might do away with the usual charges and taxes.We are just so used to the electricity unli system where it’s kuryente all you can until the next Meralco bill arrives to electrify us 🙂

Apparently, in the planned prepaid system, a simple text message will warn consumers when they are about to run out of load and have to reload.

Shown in photo at a recent event: the Meralco Power Rangers with VP Cuan (rightmost)

There are quite a few innovations going on at the Manny Pangilinan-led Meralco. For example, mobile phone users can already download the Meralco Virtual Engine (MoVE) App to know the following: where the nearest Meralco office is, how to calculate their appliance usage, directory of Bayad Centers accepting payments, power maintenance schedule, the e-bill and Bright Ideas or tips on using electricity the smarter way.

Meralco’s e-bill means that you don’t have to wait for the messenger to deliver the pending bill to you. By registering, you can now view your bill online for easy tracking and to avoid the usual hassles like premature cut-offs.