Amid the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, major water concessionaires– Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. — have assured their millions of customers of no-water disconnection despite non-payment of bills for three months.
In an interview over dzMM, Jennifer Rufo, Maynilad’s corporate communications head, said “we want to help our poor customers.”
“But for those who are capable of paying, they may look into our social media account for payment through GCash, PayMaya and Smart Padala,” she added.
She said the water firm understands the “difficult financial standing” of the people who have been severely affected by the Enhanced Community Quarantine due to COVID-19.
“However, we encourage those who could pay to settle their bills already,” she reiterated.
“To avoid a bill shock, we assure you that we are finding ways to ease your burden. Our regulator is discussing this,” she said.
Maynilad would compute one’s monthly bill based on the average of one’s statement of accounts in the past three months, she said.
Also interviewed over dzMM, Jeric Sevilla, Manila Water’s corporate communications head, is encouraging well-off customers to settle their payments “through online channels” despite the absence of a statement of account.
“Whatever you pay in excess would be ‘automatically’ adjusted to your account in the next billing once everything is back to normalcy,” he said.
He gave the assurance that there would be no disconnection, too.
“Our meter readers could not go out to read the water consumption of every customer. A consumer’s bill would also be based on the average of his or her payments in the past three months,” he said.
Both water firms said their water supply would continue to remain stable.