BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Residents of the Philippines’ summer capital are not yet ready to accept prepaid electric metering, a survey done by the Benguet Electric Cooperative early this month showed.
Engineer Delfin Cachin of Beneco said only 2,560 of the 36,508 respondents said yes to prepaid metering. There were 348 consumers who could not decide on the matter.
But Cachin attributed this to a lack of information about the benefits of prepaid electric metering, such as being able to monitor consumption and tailor power use to a preferred budget. Consumers can also check their remaining balances since meters come with alarms.
With prepaid metering, he added, consumers no longer have to worry about disconnection, reconnection fees, surcharges or penalties.
He said this is particularly favorable for frequent travelers and for apartment and boarding house owners.
To show the advantages of the system, Cachin said Beneco will install 1,000 prepaid meters for their employees.
