How to Avoid the Inconveniences of Meralco Meter Transfer?

Advertisements

This post is based on actual events a close relative experienced when their Meralco meter is transferred yards away from its previous location.

It happened when the family property was divided among respective heirs when the matriarch passed away.

First, the meter which became farther to one of the inherited houses was to be moved outside its gate. Second, the account name must also be changed to the new "owner" of the residence.

The meter is transferred alright. And in the whole property, electric power ran smoothly for 6-months. The name on the bill is also transferred to the property owner. But the entire process was done when the owner had to leave for the United States.

A Meralco's contractor so-so service started it all

The Meralco authorized contractor team headed by its “chief,” who also happens to be the owner of the company, together with some Meralco crews removed the meter from its old location and installed it to the owner's residence. A caretaker was present when the work was done.

As it turned out, when the owner arrived from the U.S., he discovered that the meter had no circuit breaker.

That's not acceptable as it's highly dangerous if a short circuit or current overload occurred.

The chief had been paid in full in advance. Now I can make a case that the chief had cut corners on doing the job.

First lesson: Have a checklist

We're gonna take the lesson learned here first before we proceed to the next major issue from which you will get another great lesson. In this situation, we can say that the owner should have left behind a checklist to the caretaker.

The caretaker must see to it that all in the checklist are done and checked. Meter installed - checked, breaker - installed, checked, and so on.

Apparently, the caretaker got satisfied in the work when he was asked to sign the installation paper and stuff. The power was on, after all. That's a major lesson there if ever you're in a similar situation.

The contractor's reasoning

Until the next big flop happened: Upon discovery of the missing breaker in the new meter installed on the post outside his gate, the owner called the chief of the contractor.

The chief contended that they didn't do it because according to him there was nobody in the house when they installed the meter. The caretaker hadn't to be there daily.

To make the long story short, the chief came the next day with one of his electricians who he tasked for the installation of the missing breaker.

The contractor cuts corner again

After 2-hours scouring the town's for a breaker, the electrician got backed with a 50-ampere circuit breaker. The owner expressed his disagreement and warned that a 60-ampere breaker must be used instead.

The electrician called the chief who only answered the phone after an hour. He gave reassurance to the owner that the 50-ampere was just right for the entire household. It sufficed, the owner nodded, and the electrician began installing the 50-ampere breaker.

Second lesson: You decide not the contractor

Another hour, the job finally got done, and the electrician left. The owner had to go shopping. When he got back, he turned on one of his A/Cs, which is on the second floor.

He took a shower. Just halfway on his bath, the light went off. It never returned.

He called the chief which told him to just turn off the breaker and on again which is done by pulling the lever to 'OFF' and push it up to 'ON' again. And it did the trick, the power resumed.

But not for long. The light went out again, and this time, it never came on. The owner went out of the house to work on the breaker for the second time. But he was shocked when he smelled burned air emanated from the breaker as he unlocked it.

The breaker was broken. It got burned because of the overload that it never withstood.

Job becomes more costly for the contractor

The owner called the chief — again! It would only a couple of hours before dusk, so the chief sent a whole team of 6-crews with, guess what? A 100-ampere breaker.

Together, the six men completed the job and installed the new breaker hastily.

Third lesson: Test and test again before calling it done

Even if the owner thought 100 amperes is good enough, he never let the electrical team leave without testing it. He turned on all three of his air-conditioning units, fans, etc.

Only when the 10 mins had passed without any power outage, did he allowed the team to leave.

He only turned off the other appliances running in excess of usual usage passed 30 minutes, the time that he's sure the power will never lose again. Indeed, the power never died again, since then.

What have we learned here in general?

1. We're the only one who has full knowledge of the total capacity or load in our electrical power on our own household.
2. We are the ones certain about the electrical usages of our own homes, not the electric company nor their authorized contractors.
3. Inconveniences are bound to happen always to the service recipient. That's because the service provider operates with a business perspective at the core of their operation.
4. All are for business and business is business. These are all true in small contractors, car repair shops, etc.
5. They'll use knock-off parts, they compromise in power requirements, they cut corners without you noticing it so that they get a lot of money from you.
6. If we always put that in our mind, things like this won't happen.
7. In this case, the owner should have been firmed that the 60-ampere breaker is not the right fit for his house.
8. He should have made the contractor got higher units or never. The installation should have been postponed until they got the right unit.

Final thoughts

What happened that day was not as alarming as it is written here. But what if it happened differently?

Lastly, if a test was made when they first installed the (60-ampere) breaker, like turning on all appliances including the 3-units of air-conditioning, right there and then, they should have seen it. But as I have said, the wrong breaker should not have been installed after all.

You can avoid this similar situation to be experienced by people you know by sharing this post to them on any of your social media. Also, if you have anything to add, please share your thoughts on this topic in the comments' below.

Share this

Vernie Mallorca

Vernie Mallorca is an entrepreneur and blogger with years of experience in selling to institutional accounts. He gradually shifted to blogging when he found out that it is his calling to write timely and helpful articles online that can help others to save money, make money, and secure their future by handling their income smartly. In this blog, he shares both managing your finances, however small it is and valuable information on running a small business.