Manila Water offers ‘one-time’ bill relief
Credit to Author: JORDEENE B. LAGARE| Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 17:01:01 +0000
MANILA Water Co. Inc., under fire over a water shortage affecting parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province, said it would slash water bills next month to provide relief to its suffering consumers.
In a news briefing on Tuesday, Manila Water president and Chief Executive Officer Ferdinand de la Cruz announced a bill waiver scheme to be applied two ways, covering consumption in March that would be billed in April.
The scheme, he said, would address the “widespread inconvenience” caused by the unprecedented water shortage that hit about 1.2 million households.
For all 6.8 million customers across its East Zone concession area, Manila Water will waive its minimum charge, which represents the first 10 cubic meters consumed in a month. This ranges from as low as P76 a month for lifeline customers to as high as P656 a month for industrial customers.
This will cost Manila Water about P150 million.
“Our lifeline customers will benefit most as their minimum charge is typically also their monthly charge,” de la Cruz told reporters.
In the case of most severely affected barangay or villages, which, according to Manila Water, experienced no water supply for 24 hours for at least seven days, whether the service interruption is continuous or broken from March 6 to 31, they will not be billed for their water consumption for March.
Manila Water is still finalizing the mechanics of its one-time bill relief scheme. The Ayala-led firm is validating and finalizing the list of hard-hit areas and provide the information either by the end of March or the first week of April.
“I again ask for the forgiveness of our customers for the widespread inconvenience that we have caused in the East Zone concession area with this unprecedented water shortage situation that began on March 6 due to a supply deficit which is beyond the typical service interruption,” de la Cruz said.
‘Reimburse hospitals’
Reacting to the announcement, Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros called on Manila Water to reimburse six public hospitals that incurred losses amounting to over P 4.116 million at the height of the water shortage.
Citing data from the Department of Health, Hontiveros said that from March 8 to 18, the Rizal Medical Center (RMC), Quirino Memorial Medical Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), National Center for Mental Health, East Avenue Medical Center and the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center incurred added operational costs amounting to P1.372 million.
From March 12 to 18, the RMC and the NKTI incurred estimated revenue losses of P630,000 and P1.75 million, respectively, or a total of P 2.38 million. Both hospitals had to limit the number of patients because of the water shortage.
“In the same spirit and under the same principle that guided it in waiving its water fees as a form of compensation to consumers, Manila Water should immediately reimburse the said public hospitals and compensate them for the public health risks their patients were exposed to because of the water crisis,” she said.
“It must make good on its promise to compensate all those who were severely affected by the water crisis and help restore consumer trust and confidence,” said Hontiveros, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Health.
Penalties eyed
Despite Manila Water’s “extraordinary” move, Reynaldo Velasco, administrator of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), said the agency’s regulatory arm was studying the penalties that could be imposed on the water utility under its concession agreement.
“I would like to emphasize here that this is just a voluntary scheme notwithstanding what is in the concession agreement, meaning there will still be corresponding penalties,” Velasco said.
“We cannot ask more because that is a voluntary,” Velasco said. “We have a mechanism. The fact that they have volunteered to waive the billing, we should probably be happy. I presume they have studied it thoroughly.”
MWSS chief regulator Patrick Lester Ty had issued Manila Water a notice to explain why it should not be penalized under the concession agreement.
Article 10, Section 10.4 of the concession agreement states: “A failure by the Concessionaire to meet any Service Obligation which continues for more than 60 days (or 15 days in cases where the failure could adversely affect public health or welfare) after written notice thereof from the Regulatory Office to the Concessionaire shall constitute a basis for the Regulatory Office to assess financial penalties against the Concessionaire. All penalties received by the Regulatory Office pursuant to this Section 10.4 shall be rebated to Customers affected by the Concessionaire’s failure to meet Service.”
Manila Water services the cities of Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Makati and parts of Quezon City and Manila. It also serves Antipolo City and the Rizal towns of Angono, Baras, Binangonan, Cainta, Cardona, Jala-Jala, Morong, Pililla, Rodriguez, Tanay, Taytay and San Mateo.
More than 97 percent of its customers already have access to water supply for 8 to 12 hours at the ground floor level.
While Manila Water’s supply deficit is now down to 107 million liters per day (MLD) from 150 MLD, de la Cruz noted “there are still small pockets, sitio or streets with intermittent no water situations resulting from operational adjustments and pressure management.”
He assured customers it would continue to focus on its service recovery efforts. The next objective is to increase the number of hours for water availability as well as “slowly but carefully increase pressure,” with the ultimate goal of normalizing water supply,” de la Cruz said.
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