accused of meter tampering by meralco

[CityHunter]

Parang lumayo sa question yun mga tanong. Curious ako on this as kung may syndicate nga sa Meralco then maybe its high time someone in that company takes notice.

It would be a good idea rin na mapag-aralan ang MO nila para hindi madale ang iba pa and a strong case can be filed naman ng mga nabiktima.

[reignrose]

wala pa din kami narerecv n demand letter from meralco,kahit bill ngayong july,,,, ano kaya magandang gawin????

[omiboy]

damn meralco.

in march my friends and i brought over their computers in my spare room that had a totally different meter from the main part of the house.

so we had 4 computers there and a 2 hp aircon running for 4 days a week for 4 weeks. so at the time of billing we got 4k for that month. so i was like... okay.... tama lang yun.... more or less....

tapos after that, may, june, and most likely this month's also.... we've been getting the same amount of billing for ONE COMPUTER that runs for 6 hours a day, every day. an electric fan for the same amount of time and a couple of florescent lights for 20 hours a day. and i was like....what the @#$% ? the june billing was 5k!!!!! for just that many appliances? really? seriously?

kalokohan na to.

think about this, noynoy aquino is a cojuanco.

guess who owns meralco? it's the cojuancos.

who benefits from this?

oh btw, did you notice nong bagyong bashang na nong nag brownout, sino pinagalitan nya? pag asa.

nong brownout d ba nya pinagalitan ang meralco? i know it's not the president's job to do that. but he is still a cojuanco. he has connections, he probably even has a major stake in that company. he could have done SOMETHING about the power problem that lasted oh i dunno ALMOST 3 DAYS in my area.

very good job i would say.

conspiracy theory?

try checking your previous bills, nagtaas din ang singil ng generation charge which could be attributed to the hike..

when in doubt, have your line checked.. else, punta ka na lang LAFI at dun ka mag whine about PNoy..

[Resilience]

ganyan din sa amin yun nga, yung dating may ari ng bahay namin (it was a foreclosed property) eh may utang na 30k.

ginawa ko pumunta kong head office then sinabi ko yung problem. sabi ko why should i pay for this whereas di naman ako ang kumunsumo noon. besides na transfer na sa pagibig yung property na may utang bago pa namin naitake out.

yun naman pala may magna carta of consumers ang meralco. nung pinakita ko yun di na nila ako siningil. iyon nga lang di ko na nairefund yung una kong binayaran...

[Rey@mme]

For almost 10 years walang selyo ang meter ko panay nmn reklamo ko sa nag memeter reading (sub con ata ng meralco sila) naka report na daw sa headoffice nila, then last month *** *** nilagyan na nila ng seal, di nmn nila ko kinasuhan. kaso last 10 years ago thru 5, bill ko mga 4k *** ng dagdag ako ng isa aircon na 3/4hp 7to8k na binabayaran ko. Nagreklamo nmn ko sa meralco para ma check iyon meter ko baka kasi defective na at mali na reading (wala nmn jumper sa line ko ) madami silang hinhingi na mga ducomento pati barangay at munisipyo para daw palitan. Tanong ko *** meron na bang naka pag re-calibrate ng meter sa meralco.

[jubeken]

kami din po ganito ang nangyayari sa amin ngayon... gusto ng meralco na magbayad kami ng 2.5m... hindi namin maintindihan kung saan nila kinuha yung computation na yun. nung may pumunta dito sa amin at sinabi na papalitan yung metro namin... nagcheck ng gamit namin at nilista lahat ng makita kahit sinabi na namin na sira yun. yung bahay namin na tinitirhan ngayon sa ate ko ****. paupahan kasi niya yung bahay.. at since umalis na yung tenant kami na lang ang pinatira. anu po b ang dapat namin gawin? parang magkaka-heart attack na po ako ng di oras dahil sa price na gusto nilAng bayaran namin. nilapit na namin sa ERC yung complaint namin at naghearing na din kam kanina. gusto nilang makita yung contract nung huling tenant sa bahay. anu po ba ang gagawin namin?? pls give us some advice

[angela2010]

Hi Shellfish,
I joined here coz i have been searching thru the net re ALLEGED meters tampered or jumpered. Alam mo, now that i have read this and a few other blogs i have a feeling that this is a MODUS OPERANDI of Meralco or a few insiders in Meralco.

Shellfish have u resolved already ur case? I am interested to know..

Thanks.



Like ur story and some others, ang lumang bahay ng magulang ko is for lease.. So may tenant. Now the last tenant i had left last October 2010. She did not pay for 2 months meralco bill and 4 months rent. Hence na disconnect ang power sa leased property. When meralco was disconnecting it, apparently who ever disconnected it noticed that ALLEGEDLY the meter has been tampered. Hence the meter was brought to the lab for testing.. And according to them,it has been verified indeed to be tampered. So a letter was sent addressed to my mothers when she was still single and she already have died. Now the person who saw the let
er was a friend of mine who lives near the leased property. Pero he did not sign saying that addressee deceased already. Meralco representative also said that this was not the first letter they sent. A similar letter was already sent daw few years back.. Now the question... If they knew it was tampered years back why did they not disconect it? Why was it like business as usual. Do u know why? Our tenant for 7 years left last 2006. He has been complaining to my mother that his meralco bill is kinda high. Ranging from 3K-5K a month last 2005-2006. When he left of course walang tenant at pinaayos namin ang bahay. Meralco said there was an ABRUPT DECLINE in the billing thats why it was confirmed to be tampered. Not to mention the fact that per their lab test na wala naman akong representative, they have confirmed that its positively tampered. I was wondering and per monthly billings, when we already had new tenants their
Nangyari to sa pinauupahan na apartment ng father ko.

a few months back nagpunta yung meralco technician dun sa property and sabi may sira daw yung meter (may crack daw yung glass) and luma na raw so kelangan palitan. Pinapirmahan nila yung kasambahay ng release form. Pinirmahan naman ng kasambahay kasi mukang in good faith naman yung intention.

After a month, nakatanggap ang father ko ng notice na dinala sa laboratory ng meralco yung meter and nakita na tampered daw! Kesho di raw naka-align yung numbers ng meter, may broken seal daw, etc! kaya raw pala mababa yung kuryente kasi tampered yung metro. nag-estimate ang meralco na since 2005 pa raw yung tampering kaya dapat daw magbayad kami ng extra plus penalty from 2005! Ang babayaran daw namin ay tumatagingting na 280,000 pesoses! Waw!

Ang sabi naman ng father ko, kaya mababa yung kuryente kasi nagkaron ng mahabang time na walang umuupa. So shempre, mga 5 – 10 pesos lang ang bill. and palagay na natin na SIGURO nga ginalaw nung umuupa yung meter, di alam ng father ko yon dahil wala naman siyang technical capacity para malaman yon. baka makuryente pa siya no!

Nagpunta na yung tita ko sa meralco office at ang sabi ng legal department don na kung magbabayad agad, may 20% discount daw! At pwede raw bayaran ng installment! Nakakatawa naman yon!

Nag-research ako sa internet and may similar cases din pala na ganito, although most of them mga kumpanya ang involved.

May narinig na ba kayo na ganitong kaso? Pano na-resolve? Talagang dapat bang kumuha na kami ng lawyer? Please help! Thanks![/QUOTE]

[junelwoodcraft]

na experience din namin yan, kami na nga nagreport sa meralco na stop meter kami, then dinala nila sa lab (daw) sabi nila tampered daw, wtf eh wala nga nakakaalam na galawin yun metro, wala kami magawa kundi magbayad ng 24k dahil sa kuryente nakasalalay yung production, kung nakakamatay lang ang magmura, pinagmumura ko na sila...

[angela2010]

I want to share my story regarding Meralco.
Our old house under the name of my mother is for lease for almost 15 years. The house has been leased first to a family friend who stayed there for almost 8 years and who until now is a good friend. I remember sometime 2004 or 2005, he has been complaining about his meralco bills. The house is not big and the tenant has about 7 people staying in the house. As of 2005, his biggest amount of bill is already P5K a month. He now has transferred to a house not so far from our old house and guess what… this 2010, his highest amount of bill is P2K a month not to mention he has more appliances to boot compared last 2005. There are times when we don’t have tenants simply coz we still have to advertise that its for lease and we have to renovate the small house. That friend tenant left 2006 May. In between 2006 until 2010 we have had different tenants and at times the place would also be unoccupied.
Our last tenant stayed until sept and did not pay 4 months rent and 2 months meralco bill. Hence meralco disconnected it last October. Then they said when they checked the meter it has been tampered ( allegedly). At this point, all family members are out of the country and no my friend broker is the one looking for tennats in case we have problems. A few days after they sent to a neighbor and relayed to me that meralco sent a letter demanding that we make payment to the tune of P320K as they found out that meter has been tampered ( ALLEGEDl). They said coz there was an abrupt decline in the billings and the meter was found tampered hence we need to pay since May 2006.
My friend tenant left the house May 2006. After that we did not have tenants.. Then we had tenants again. My tenants have been paying 2000k a month for a family of four. The recent tenant who did not pay us even had a monthly bill of P8K last May 2010 as they seem to have been full house in our old house without me knowing. Then the August and Sept bill which she did not pay amounted to P6.5K and P1.5 respectively… Meron bang nag tamper na angmonthly bill for a small house amouting t o P8K?
Ang nagtatamper would pay less than P 500 pesos but not P8K?
Honestly, ako nga ang dapat mag c omplain coz I think their meter has been defective all this time.
They did the lab test without any representative from our end.
I have yet to find out if the is the first time or the 2nd time they sent a letter coz I heard tho unconfirmed that they sent a demand letter years before coz they saw that the meter is defective… If that was the case how come the billing of tenants since years ago has been continuing..

I think there is a syndicate group in the company who are targeting houses with meters occupied by TENANTS.. why? Coz it’s the easiest target.. Owners of houses will not allow anyone to just replace the meters nor pull it out without any reperesentative. Kung tenants ang nakatira, do u think tenants will even witness the lab test. They will be busy in work or school….

They intend to replace the meter kuno and then months thereafter they will say that the meter has been tampered…. Hello! E SILA ANG NAG TAMPER EH!
We should not allow this to happen.. This group of syndicate thinks that just because they are using the logo of MERALCO we will be petrified. They cant just pull out meters without permission. They cant just say “ after the labtest where the dial is misaligned we found the met to be tampered”… gasgas nay an…
We should let this be known to the growing public esp those whose isolated houses are for lease.
They are the easy target of this modus operandi….
I appeal to those who have been victims of this modus operandi maybe we can write a letter to one of the leading newspapers in PI so we can be heard. I would like to hear your comments on this one.

Thank you.

Eto kwento:

Nangyari to sa pinauupahan na apartment ng father ko.

a few months back nagpunta yung meralco technician dun sa property and sabi may sira daw yung meter (may crack daw yung glass) and luma na raw so kelangan palitan. Pinapirmahan nila yung kasambahay ng release form. Pinirmahan naman ng kasambahay kasi mukang in good faith naman yung intention.

After a month, nakatanggap ang father ko ng notice na dinala sa laboratory ng meralco yung meter and nakita na tampered daw! Kesho di raw naka-align yung numbers ng meter, may broken seal daw, etc! kaya raw pala mababa yung kuryente kasi tampered yung metro. nag-estimate ang meralco na since 2005 pa raw yung tampering kaya dapat daw magbayad kami ng extra plus penalty from 2005! Ang babayaran daw namin ay tumatagingting na 280,000 pesoses! Waw!

Ang sabi naman ng father ko, kaya mababa yung kuryente kasi nagkaron ng mahabang time na walang umuupa. So shempre, mga 5 – 10 pesos lang ang bill. and palagay na natin na SIGURO nga ginalaw nung umuupa yung meter, di alam ng father ko yon dahil wala naman siyang technical capacity para malaman yon. baka makuryente pa siya no!

Nagpunta na yung tita ko sa meralco office at ang sabi ng legal department don na kung magbabayad agad, may 20% discount daw! At pwede raw bayaran ng installment! Nakakatawa naman yon!

Nag-research ako sa internet and may similar cases din pala na ganito, although most of them mga kumpanya ang involved.

May narinig na ba kayo na ganitong kaso? Pano na-resolve? Talagang dapat bang kumuha na kami ng lawyer? Please help! Thanks!

[May27]

may nagpa-abot na ba sa media ng problem na 'to...
baka may makapanood at magka-interest na butihing gov't. official at ipa-imbestiga/pagpaliwanagin ang Meralco.
walang laban tayong regular consumer kung magkaron ng ganitong problema.

[franzb69]

whatever happened to that thing na diba nagkaron ng utang ang meralco sa mamayan? and they were slowly paying us back through "credits"

did that just magically disappear or was it all paid back na?

[meralcobusted]

hi guys..i've been reading all ur post,atleast nababawasan ang bigat sa dibdib ko..everytime na iisipin ko what will happen next. eto ang kwento month of july this year 2010,meron nagpuntang meralco sa inuupahan namin bahay and then they told us na tampered n nga daw *** seal and dadalhin nila yung metro para i labtest,ok lang naman samkin kung dalahin nila kaso ang tema me pananakot kesyo pag nilabtest makakasuhan daw magmumulta around 300k parang gusto nilang mangyari eh gawan nalng namin ng paraan para maka menos kme hindi na nila dadalahin ang metro bigyan nalang ng for the boys ang mga kasama nila.so madali't sabi ang gusto nila ay 50k tig 10k daw silang lima..nagkatawaran hanggang maging 20k..binigyan sila ng 20k at hindi na dinala ang metro..tsk!several months ha spast me meralco na naman dumating at pinalitan na yung metro ng digital..ngayon araw nato nangyari ang sabi luma na daw *** dating metro at beed for replacement..ano kaya ng susunod na mangyayari anung magiging remedy namin dito?and what about the owner of the house..sino magiging liable?

[welscua]

Ganito pagakakaalam ko dyan... pag nagfluctuate yung billing nyo ay naka timbre na yan sa meralco.. normally sa mga paupahan nangyayari yan lalo na pag walang tenants then sisilipin na yan...pero pag constant yung billing nyo and approximate yung billing nyo sa laki ng bahay ay di kayo papansinin ng meralco.

tapos pag nagimbistiga na sila ay ililista lahat ng appliances nyo tapos cocomputin yung normal usage lahat yun, example pag may nakitang aircon ay 8 hours agad daily sa computation nila yan. I-maximise nila so in case magkaroon ng kaso at mabawasan ang penalty thru court decision or settlement ay kita pa rin sila.

mahirap pa dyan pag naputulan ka ng kuryente ay hopeless ka ng makabitan ulit until i-settle mo yung amount..

dapat makasama sa consumer protection bill yang mga services...

[bryant77]

Don't remove the tamper seal ng electric meter. Maaaring maging dahilan ito para i-accused kayo ng meter tampering.

Like in my case walang seal yun meter dahil pinalipat ko ng pwesto yun meter base. When the inspector check tampered na raw. They pullout my meter and replaced with a sealed one. Meralco send me a demand letter to witness the calibration of our meter sa kanilang office sa Ortigas. Since OK naman yun metro wala akong naging charges.

If the meralco requested to test your meter & witness it .Very important na pumunta kayo dahil baka magkaroon ng "hocus pokus".
Sandali lang naman yun testing 1/2 hr lang.

[welscua]

Don't remove the tamper seal ng electric meter. Maaaring maging dahilan ito para i-accused kayo ng meter tampering.

Like in my case walang seal yun meter dahil pinalipat ko ng pwesto yun meter base. When the inspector check tampered na raw. They pullout my meter and replaced with a sealed one. Meralco send me a demand letter to witness the calibration of our meter sa kanilang office sa Ortigas. Since OK naman yun metro wala akong naging charges.

If the meralco requested to test your meter & witness it .Very important na pumunta kayo dahil baka magkaroon ng "hocus pokus".
Sandali lang naman yun testing 1/2 hr lang.

Same what happened to me, pinalipat ko yung meter ko so nasira yung seal, however, may kapitbahay ako na bisor sa meralco (contractor) sabi nya gawa agad kami ng request for seal then submit agad namin sa meralco, after few days dumating yung taga meralco then nag inspect for jumper then nilagyan ng seal, they accept legitimate reason naman pag sira yung seal like lipat ng location para di na papasok yung reader sa bahay.

so for any abnormality or broken seal sa meter ay dapat pala gawa agad ng request for meter replacement, repair, testing, seal, etc.. para one step ahead ka sa meralco and in case deliberate and pagkasira ng meter ay ma-correct agad and iwas kaso pa, kasi pag napalo or even nabagsak ang meter ay may tendency na ma mis-aligned yung mge gears ng meter then lalabas na tampered na yun..

[dudztgp]

Here's my story:

Last 2001, my dad was wrongfully accused of tampering. And so, Meralco pulled out the meter and disconnected the service. Same thing, they checked all the appliances and everything, charged my dad 400k. But my dad refused to pay since there's no evidence of tampering.

By the way, since 2001, I lived with my grandparents so I'm not aware of what happened. Fast forward to 2009, my dad passed away. I decided to take care of the house but there's no supply of electricity. I applied to Meralco. However, they refused. Not until I pay the unsettled case, they will not process my application. You can see on their faces the devilish smile they put on.

And because I wanted the place so bad, I agreed with their process. In short, I signed an agreement to settle the amount which they discounted at 40%. It's an installment plan for Php 800/mo. I've done the math and it will take 27 years to pay it all.

Little did I know, there's ERB Resolution No. 95-21, Section 48 which states:

Right to Electric Service Despite Arrearages of Previous Occupant; Collusion - An electric utility shall not refuse or discontinue service to an applicant or customer, who is not in arrears to the electric utility, even though there are unpaid charges due from the premises occupied by the applicant, or customer, on account of unpaid bill of a prior tenant, unless there is evidence of conspiracy to defraud the electric utility.

This is the same in Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumer, Chapter II, Article 18. Unfortunately, I just read this today.

My predicament now is how to void that agreement.

I'll go to Meralco's Branch Office on Monday and ask some questions about my concern.

I'm praying someone could help me on this. According to Magna Carta, if Meralco's consumer helpdesk is not able to take action, I can forward the complaint to ERC. Right now, I'm thinking that this is going to be a long and winding journey.

[joma_s]

^ i say, get advises from lawyers first

[dudztgp]

^ do you know where I can get some assistance or at least an advice for free? As far as I know, consulting is costly. I'm the eldest, supporting my siblings is my top priority. If I dive into this situation, it's gonna be rough.

I appreciate if someone out there who can help me with this. Thanks in advanced.

[joma_s]

check with PAO - public atty office they are free. you dont need to hire outright. you just need some guidance and pick up from there.

[dudztgp]

^ Thanks! I'll check it right now.