CEBU CITY — The Aboitiz-led Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) is expected to pilot-test within the first half of this year a system of prepaid electricity consumption.
Sebastian Lacson, Veco senior vice president and chief operating officer, said that the distribution firm is set to identify some 300 residential consumers within its franchise area to conduct a pilot-testing of the prepaid electricity scheme.
Veco has over 340,000 consumers within its franchise area in Cebu, covering San Fernando in the south, to Lilo-an in the north, consuming 371 megawatts at peak demand.
“We want to get a cross section of society to pilot-test the prepaid metering system and determine whether the concept is viable,” said Lacson, adding that as of press time, Veco has not yet identified the sites covered by the tests.
Lacson added that the company has already shortlisted suppliers for the prepaid electricity meters.
The system Veco is eyeing works like the prepaid scheme for a cellular phone service.
A customer pays the amount for the electricity he expects to use at a given period. He tops off his credit when he has exhausted the prepaid amount.
Lacson said that Veco has initially identified the real estate sector, especially those properties that are up for rental, to embrace the prepaid electricity offer as it encourages a customer to closely manage his power use.
In the United States (US) and some countries like Africa, the prepaid electricity metering system has already been practiced, and Lacson is optimistic that the Cebu market, and the Philippines in general, is ready to embrace this concept because of our familiarity with the “prepaid revolution.”