Abra power firm sets unique billing system

By Maritess B. Beñas

BANGUED, Abra – Adapting an innovation to facilitate billing so consumers can pay their bills on time, the Abra Electric Coop.  has allowed  its members to take pictures of their meter reading and  present these when paying  the bill.

                ABRECO general manager Loreto P. Seares, Jr. said this would  address problem of  electric coop’s meter readers  where they cannot do the reading  when  gates of consumers  are  locked  or  households  have  dogs.

                Wilson Bolante, public affairs officer of ABRECO, advised consumers to immediately complain if  the reading reflected in their bill is questionable.

                He said they should call the attention of the sub-station in their area to reconcile the reading and should not wait for their due date so that it could be acted upon immediately.

                In case of disconnection, Bolante said have to pay charges like reconnection fee and arrearages and inform the Institutional Services Department (ISD) after paying so that the appropriate job order could be issued for the reconnection of their line.

                The job order is forwarded to the engineering department which will implement the reconnection.

                He warned the members to refrain from doing the reconnection by themselves so their connection will not be considered tampering of illegal connection. 

                Meanwhile, ABRECO urged member-consumers to always coordinate with their office before cutting trees along electric lines to prevent accidents.

                 Consumers were also told to report to their office electric posts that needed to be replaced or cleared of plants such as vine climbing the posts and service drafts, and branches of trees around the electric facilities.

                ABRECO also advised individuals who buy houses with existing power connections to secure permission from the house sellers to transfer the ownership of their electric meter so that the bills could be directed to the buyers for proper accountability.  

                Regarding the   discount of senior citizens, the program is still on-going. 

                Qualified seniors are those whose monthly consumption is below 100 kilowatts per month.

                All they need to do, ABRECO officials, said, is to personally appear to the ABRECO office, present their valid Identification cards and birth certificate to prove their age and barangay clearance.