Maynilad launches online portal for water bills

WEST zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) on Wednesday said it had launched two new programs for the convenient viewing of customers’ bills, especially during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Customers registered to its “My Water Bill” program can view their current bills and statements of account from the past 12 months, which they can also download and print, via an online portal.

It also provides customers with monthly notifications about their water bills via text message or e-mail.

For those not enrolled in the program, Maynilad also offered its expanded “Bill on Demand SMS Bill Facility,” which sends current water bills via text message to customers sans registration.

Since the start of the ECQ, the concessionaire temporarily suspended meter reading and on-site billing activities for the safety of their service providers and customers amid the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It also put on hold water disconnections to overdue accounts.

The water supplier currently computes water bills based on customers’ average consumption for the past three months. It has given customers an additional 30 days of paying their monthly bills on top of the 60-day grace period it usually provides them.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has a majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Adam J. Ang