Cebu City, Philippines – Most cellphone users use it. Even cable TV is catching on.
But consumers in Metro Cebu will have to wait longer for a prepaid system for electricity meters in Cebu to take off.The Visayan Electric Company (Veco) continues to discuss with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) how the new system can proceed. The distribution utility firm is also looking for lower priced prepaid electricity meter which currently costs P5,000 each. “I am looking for a magic number, P2,000 (t per meter) maybe,” said Veco chief operating officer Jaime Jose Aboitiz. “At P5,000 upfront cost, you will not likely switch (to prepaid electricity meter),” he told reporters at the sidelines of the launching of the Veco Braille bill system on Monday. In a previous interview, Veco vice president for administration and chief finance officer Chona Tiu said they plan to pilot test the system in Cebu in January 2009. Veco officials visited South Africa in April 2008 to observe how the system is implemented there. Although the current progress of the prepaid meter system is not positive, Aboitiz said they have not entirely given up on the system. “We are looking for potential suppliers of prepaid meters and are trying to expand the list of possible suppliers,” he said. Aboitiz said suppliers may come from different countries such as United States, Germany, China and Singapore. Because the concept of prepaid electricity meters is new in the country, Aboitiz said the ERC has yet to set definite rules and regulations for the system. “We are still talking with the regulator (ERC) as to what will be included in the rate billing. The other thing is that we haven't find a prepaid metering solution that is cost-effective,” he said. The implementation of the system is expected to benefit owners of vacations homes and condominium units, apartments and boarding houses. A prepaid electricity meter uses the same concept of prepared cellular phones and phone card where consumers pay in advance for their consumption. Under the system, consumers will buy load cards with equivalent money value. The value will be encoded to the prepaid meter using a keypad. The implementation of prepaid meter system means no meter reading and billing on Veco thus saving on paper and transportation costs, reducing disconnection or reconnection costs, and avoiding billing disputes and utility disconnects. It will also answer the additional costs and hassles Veco incurs on “expensive to maintain” consumers. “They're a small percentage, less than five percent (of total consumers), but are expensive to maintain,” Aboitiz said. “Some of them are those who pay their bills after they get disconnected. They only pay 10 pesos as reconnection fee but the cost of going back there is greater.” On the other hand, Aboitiz said the prepaid system will allow consumers to see their consumption in real time so “they will actually consume less.” /Reporter Cris Evert B. Lato | 
