Zambo folks pestered by frequent voltage fluctuations, outages

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Electric consumers are outraged by the poor services of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (ZAMCELCO), saying not a single day passes without multiple voltage fluctuations and power outages.

NEGLECT. A street light and electric meters are now covered in vines in Zamboanga City's Tetuan village. (Zamboanga Post)

And these problems add up to the stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to the residents.

 

Since 2019 after Crown Investments Holdings, Inc. and Desco Inc. took over and bailed out the heavily-indebted and poorly-managed ZAMCELCO for P2.5 billion, the problems are still the same and residents continue to suffer as they did the past several decades.

 

ZAMCELCO has been blaming the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and sometimes the electricity supplier Western Mindanao Power Corporation (WMPC) which is being run by Alto Power Management Corporation, a partnership between Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. through Conal Holdings Corporation and Toyota Tshusho Corporation of Japan. 

 

Power consumers complained that the frequent voltage fluctuations and brownouts not only are a pestering problem for them, but the surge of electricity had destroyed their appliances.

 

One resident said she has a collection of at least 3 air conditioners which broke down due to voltage fluctuations over the past years, and repairing them was more expensive than buying a new unit. “Worst, that’s all I can say,” she said, referring to the services of the electric cooperative then and now.

 

A community page on Facebook, the ZAMCELCO Consumers Complaint Page, are literally overflowing with complaints, and expletives from frustrated residents. Some people, who offered help, would call the attention of the ZAMCELCO General Manager Gannymede Tiu, only to tell the complainants once their problems were solved to thank a city councilman for “helping them.”

 

The ZAMCELCO Customer Service Department is the worst, according to cooperative members, who said that nobody was answering their phone calls.

 

Residents also complained that ZAMCELCO billed them more than what they are supposed to pay. Electric consumers resorted to social media in airing their complaints, many angry over what they claimed were over billing or overcharging imposed by the electric cooperative.

 

Angry consumers accused the cooperative of taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sudden hike in electric charges came despite frequent daily power outages and voltage fluctuations.

 

The ZAMCELCO Consumers Complaint Page was flooded with photos of electric bills showing unreasonable increase in charges. One resident said the local electric cooperative overbilled them not once, but twice after a meter reader deliberately and falsely misread their actual power consumption in December 2020 and January 2021.

In his complaint, Joules Abubakar Susulan questioned how the meter reader computed their electric usage from December and January. On his electric billing, Susulan said reading from their electric meter showed 959.9 kWh. But the meter reader recorded 1,000 kWh.

And he said the same thing happened again in January, the electric meter reads 983.8 kWh and the meter reader listed it as 1,000 kWh. “Always check the actual meter reading, it happens that they will do like this (sic). Kung sana no read, no write ako abay magpapasalamat talaga ako sa kanila dahil wala na akong bill sa January,” he warned power consumers.

Other power consumers also criticized how ZAMCELCO computes actual electric usage. “That’s what they call Table Reading tsk…tsk…,” wrote Edmin de Guzman Lagonera in his reaction to Susulan’s predicament.

Aivhan Blocknyt said: “This is the problem, even I. This is (a) big headache.”

“That's why our bill from P1800-P2000, (now is) P3,600. How come?” asked Ion Raz Jangayo.

Marinela Ordoña Redoña said the electric reading was obviously inaccurate: “Eh, di parang nag mano-mano mag reading kasi hindi accurate ang reading. Di tumutugma ang reading sa actual (count) na nasa meter. Ginagawa tayong mga tanga nitong Zamcelco na ito.”

“Messed up, always,” said Anne RaRa

Susulan said he complained to the cooperative, but was told that the billing was advanced by ZAMCELCO. “Ang sabi ng nakausap ko sa ZAMCELCO bale daw na advance na yung bill sa January,” he said.

But no one believed ZAMCELCO. “Puede bang i-advance ang pag reading ng meter? Parang nag guessing-guessing ang meter reader niyan dahil hindi makabigay ng accurate na reading,” said Redoña.

Just this year, many house owners complained that they were overbilled by ZAMCELCO after it imposed back-billing to many residential accounts following a massive installation of new electric meters. Back-bill is a catch-up bill sent when a power consumer is incorrectly charged for energy usage. It covers a longer period than the usual billing cycle and will likely be for a larger than usual amount.

This was confirmed by ZAMCELCO and Tiu said that “in the past several months until December 19, we conducted massive installation of kilowatt-hour meters to more than 10,000 consumers that had no installed meters for so many years back.”

Tiu said many residential accounts here have no electric meters and ZAMCELCO only billed them through “averaging” or minimum amount compared to their actual electricity usage. He added that back billing of customers is to ensure all power consumers pay for the utilities they use. “That is the reason for the ZAMCELCO back-billing,” he said.

Following the outcry, ZAMCELCO eventually adjusted the overbilling.

In 2012, Zamboanga also suffered from severe power curtailment – as much as 6 hours a day and at worst, 14 hours or more. And ZAMCELCO - whose manager then was George Ledesma – blamed the power crisis to the El Niño weather phenomenon and maintenance shutdown of hydro and coal-fired power plants in Mindanao.

ZAMCELCO could only wait for the construction of the 100-megawatt coal-fired power plant of Alsons Power Holdings which was set to begin operation in 2016 in the village of Talisayan.

But Alsons failed to start building its facility and cited many reasons for the long delay – from the failed Moro rebellion here in 2013 to the P900-million enhancement program it was demanding from ZAMCELCO as an assurance it could pay them for the stable supply of electricity.

Even today, Alsons has not finished its coal-fired power plant here and ZAMCELCO said it would not purchase electricity from Alsons or what it is called now the San Ramon Power, Inc. due to its previous demand from WMPC.

The WMPC previously cut off power supply to ZAMCELCO after it refused to pay its overdue account amounting to P460 million. ZAMCELCO through Crown Investments Holdings, Inc. and Desco Inc. claimed that WMPC had over billed the electric cooperative since 2015 by P440 million and is demanding a refund. However, WMPC denied the allegation and ZAMCELCO eventually paid in part or in full of what it owed the electric supplier. (Zamboanga Post)

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