Make it “tap and pay,” not “take or pay’.

This is decidedly a fairer deal than the current pricing for electricity where you have to pay even for electricity you don’t use.

You cannot get any closer to being pro-poor than that.

Actually, it is a win-win for everybody – well, except for the greedy independent power producers.

Last week we noted that the country’s average household power rate was the fifth highest in the world and the highest in Asia.      

So, absent any quick and dramatic government initiative to bring power rates down, any effort by the private sector to ease the burden of consumers would be most welcome indeed.

It’s actually just common sense –paying only for what you actually consume. That is, going prepaid.

And since it’s being done by telecommunications firms, Internet service,  and cable television service providers, why should not distributors or retailers follow suit?       

Luckily, a pioneering energy firm has introduced pre-paid electricity where consumers can limit their power consumption to as low as P100 for three days.

“Pre-paid electricity is just like loading your pre-paid cell phone, you can reload in a matter of minutes,” Roland Arogante, director for sales of Xen Energy System which developed the system, was quoted by a major broadsheet as saying.  

Arogante said his company has submitted a proposal to the Manila Electric Co. and electric cooperatives nationwide regarding the pre-paid power-consumption scheme.

“Meralco is now studying our proposal,” he said.

The Batangas Electric Cooperative Inc., which pilot-tested the electric load, found the system efficient, benefiting both the consumers and the electric cooperative since it would lessen erroneous meter reading.

Arogante said in compliance with the requirement of the Energy Regulatory Commission, pre-paid “kuryentext” would show load balance in 30-minute intervals and a 30-day consumption record as well as low load warning system.

He said residential power consumers using pre-paid electric load would be registered and assigned a user name and password.

“Through a pre-registered mobile phone or online and with the password, the customer can check his/her account, load credits and even disconnect his/her meter,” Arogante said.

Here’s a catch though: A new meter for the pre-paid electricity would cost P5,000. But such one-time payment would not hurt over the long term as consumers are afforded easily accessible, affordable, and secure power service. 

Consider this: Arogante said a consumer can load as low as P100 for electricity that will last up to three days.