By Jim Lloyd Dongiapon
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Shock was all a member-consumer-owner (MCO) of the Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (NORDECO) from the town of Asuncion, Davao del Norte felt after receiving the electric bill that totaled more than ₱1.5 million on Tuesday, September 27.
The concerned MCO immediately reported the alleged misreading of their electric meter to NORDECO, stating that their usual monthly consumption only reaches ₱4,000.
On Thursday afternoon, September 29, NORDECO issued an official statement through their Facebook page apologizing for the error they committed.
“Niabot sa buhatan sa NORDECO ang nikalat nga usa ka post sa social media mahitungod sa power bill nga mikabat sa 1.5 Million Pesos. Ang NORDECO nangayo ug pasensya sa maong sayop. (It has come to NORDECO’s attention that a social media post is circulating regarding a power bill that amounted to 1.5 Million Pesos. NORDECO apologizes for the error),” NORDECO said.
According to NORDECO, the error was discovered while printing the bill and was immediately corrected.
“Sa pag-print sa bill sa Consumer Accounts Processor sa NORDECO, nakita nga mali ang reading. Dali-dali dayun kini nga gi-correct sa NORDECO ug wala na gihatag ang maong bill sa miyembro-konsumante-tag-iya ug gilabay kini sa basurahan. Dakong katingala na lamang sa buhatan nga kani anaa na sa social media (Upon printing of the bill by the NORDECO’s Consumer Accounts Processor, a misreading was discovered. NORDECO promptly corrected the error, and the member-consumer-owner did not return the bill and threw it in the trash instead. We were surprised the matter was already making its rounds on social media),” the cooperative stated.
The statement continued, “Usa kani ka Human Error ug dili tinuyuan nga matuplok ang laing numero nga hinungdan sa taas nga reading (There was a human error and the entry of the numbers that led to the high reading was not done on purpose).”
“Gisiguro sa panggamhanan sa NORDECO nga kani isolated case lamang ug walay intensyon ang atong Kooperatiba nga manikas sa atong mga minahal nga miyembro-konsumante-tag iya (The NORDECO administration assures that this is only an isolated case and the cooperative has no intention of swindling our dear member-consumer-owners),” it added.
The electric cooperative reminded the public that should problems arise, they should directly report it to their office or through their hotline numbers and on Messenger.
As of September 2022, NORDECO’s residential power rate is at ₱17.0374 per kilowatt hour (kWh).