My Meralco Suggestions

I've given up trying to understand the Comments section of my blog and why it refuses to upload the messages. I get them on my email, though.

So. I get this one today about my Meralco post.

Being a marketing consultant, what can you suggest to Meralco then? Posted by Anonymous to Confessions Of A Marketing Addict at 9/14/2006 03:44:14 PM

I liked the question and, as it so happens, I've been mulling about it since I posted that.

See, the thing is that - when I receive my Meralco bill, I don't understand anything it says other than the part that screams in very bold font: TOTAL CURRENT AMOUNT.

Years ago, it was the PPA (EPA? APA? Something like that.) that was causing the bill to balloon. Then, it got scrapped and, for a while, jubilation. Not so fast. It just took on another form. I'm looking at it and what in the world is a Lifeline Rate? The only lifeline I know is the one on those heart monitors that tell your loved ones if you're dead or alive. Under Value Added Tax, there is System Loss Charge. What system loss charge? I am losing something when my power fluctuates so shouldn't I be charging Meralco this System Loss Charge instead?

Which brings me to my point.

The public do not understand their electric bill. Hence, all that animosity, anger and hostility towards Meralco. I'm sure Meralco has a valid reason for all those charges but, unless explained in a way that Manang Norma will understand, the animosity will remain.

Scrap the mall tour. Scrap that Price Is Light game show. Instead, go to where your consumers are and explain it to them. You know, people fear that which they do not understand. They will either cower in fright or lash out. The latter seems to be the choice that the Filipino public has opted for.

Why can't you conduct free seminars to the barangays? Bring an entire plasma screen to some basketball court in Purok 12, Sitio 6 and conduct an awareness campaign that does not talk down to them. A campaign that respects their dignity and intelligence. Send people who can speak their language. Have these people explain exactly what goes on to make their bill look like this. Listen to their stories and do something about it.

If you have the time to read this blog, I'm sure you can make time for the public who are more important than I am and are not remotely interested in my blog.

It wouldn't hurt to provide them with free merienda (snacks) as well and please! None of those Pan De Sal sandwiches and Zest-O. They may come for the merienda but, at least, they came and listened.

Train your people to be more sensitive when they take meter readings. Teach them what customer service is all about. Even the guards at the Meralco office where I pay are so arrogant. They forget that it is we, the paying public, who make it possible for them to have jobs.

I like that machine you have that measures electrical consumption for each appliance. Why don't you bring that with you when you go to the barangays and let them try it out? Explain to them the whys and whats of their refrigerator's consumption of electricity. It is way better than handing out those flyers that I often find inside my bill. Those flyers are useless. No one reads them because they've gone blind from the shock of seeing their electric bill.

Your website is a wonderful thing. I can actually track my bill in it. But, that's me and I don't represent the enormous percentage of the Filipino masses. They do not have access to a computer much less the internet. I'm sure some of them still get petrified at the idea of booting a computer. If you can take what's inside that website to the public, it would do a lot to make them understand what's happening to their bill. Right now, they're just wondering if Casper has gotten to their cables which explain their skyrocketing bills.

That mall tour is just a Band-Aid. It will take their minds off their electric bill for awhile but, as soon as the delight of seeing Rica Peralejo wears off, they will remember it again and hate you twice as much. For fooling them and wasting money that Meralco could've used to pay off its bad debts.

On your website, your latest news says that there will be reductions in electric bills. I didn't know that and neither did my neighbors. The entry was dated August 17. Did that reduction take effect already? Was it on my bill? Perhaps it was in that mind-boggling System Loss Charge? These are things that should've been communicated to the consumer because it will help a lot in uplifting Meralco's sagging image.

And what is this Customer Choice Program? Is this like a Daylight Savings thing? It would've been nice to explain that further to the business community as a way of informing them that there are alternatives they can utilize in order to control their electric consumption.

Instead of taking all that budget for some useless mall tour and game show, use it for a more effective and efficient awareness campaign. The Filipino masses barely have enough to keep body and soul together. And you want them to spend what little they have left on transportation fare to go watch a mall show that does nothing to alleviate their sorry plight except give them temporary amnesia?

Everyone needs electricity. Whether I like it or not, Meralco and I are destined to be together for life. So, like any Catholic marriage gone bad where annulment is not an option, I prefer to co-exist with Meralco in the most harmonious way I can find.

I only ask that the company do not treat me and the rest of the public like dimwits. That mall tour and game show insults my intelligence and runs roughshod over my dignity. I am not alone in that sentiment, I assure you.

And stop it with the power fluctuations! For the amount I shell out each month on my electric bill, I deserve better service.

P.S. I don't just bitch over something without thinking of options to address the problem. Sometimes, the option I think of won't work. But, at least, I have options. Way better than just bitching for the sake of bitching which is a totally un-productive exercise.

Anonymous, I love your question. Thank you for asking it. Now, come out of hiding. I am not going to synch the Abu Sayyaf on you. LOL.

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Marketing Confessions of Sunny whispered 4:33 PM
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