PALECO urges member-consumers to pay bills ahead

The Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) asked its member-consumers to settle their monthly dues ahead of the deadline so that the cooperative will be able to pay its suppliers on time too.

“Nag-aappeal tayo sa ating mga member-consumers na kailangan natin magbayad on time kasi kailangan natin magbayad sa ating mga power suppliers,” said Finance Services Department Manager Lolita Carbonell.

PALECO has four power providers: Delta P Incorporated, Palawan Power Generation Inc, and DMCI Power Corporation, which it has to pay every 5th of the month, and the National Power Corporation-Small Power Utility Group, which needs to be paid every 10th of the month.

“Kung hindi tayo makabayad, mag-i-impose na sila ng surcharge, at the same time, mawawala ang ating prompt payment discount, kasi pag nakabayad tayo on time binibigyan tayo ng prompt payment discount na we can’t afford to lose kasi malaki naman ‘yan, umaabot yan ng PHP3M so kailangan natin ma-avail talaga kasi pandagdag sa ating kita,” said Carbonell.

Every month, PALECO sees to it that it avails of the prompt payment discount offered by the power providers by means of paying their dues on time.

It is also very keen about collecting the payments to avoid having to deal with the 8% surcharge the power providers impose on late payments. “Talagang sinisikap natin na mabayaran ang ating mga power providers kasi malaki rin, kung sa atin ang ating surcharge ay 5% lang ang ini-impose natin sa ating mga consumers kung hindi makabayad sa due date, mas malaki po ang ini-impose ng ating mga power providers na 8%,” Carbonell stated.

However, there have been criticisms from the member-consumers regarding PALECO’s disconnection mechanism. Carbonell said, “Sa totoo lang, wala naman sigurong gustong mamutol sa part namin, kaya lang ang bayarin natin sa ating mga power suppliers ay P192 million. Kung hindi magbabayad on time ang ating mga member-consumers, hindi natin maiipon ‘yung ganyan kalaking amount.”

“Sa lahat ng ating mga member-consumers, pinapakiusap po namin na sana po magbayad tayo on time kasi po, kumbaga sa pamumuhay, tayo ay ‘isang kahig isang tuka’ pagbayad niyo, ibabayad din namin sa mga power suppliers, ganun lang ang ikot ng ating buhay sa PALECO kaya sana on time po tayo magbayad,” Carbonell reminded.

PALECO’s Project Supervisor and Acting General Manager Engr. Nelson A. Lalas added that the member-consumers must know their obligations to the cooperative like paying their bills prior to its due date. “We are afraid that there will be a time that we can no longer pay [the power providers] because of this low collection efficiency and we must have to really address [this],” he said.