BENGUET Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Beneco) meter readers assured consumers more accurate reading of meters with their “Linis-Metro” project at the central business district (CBD) area, Baguio City market, and La Trinidad, Benguet.
Armed with pails of soap and water, sprayers, and rags Beneco's 37 meter readers attacked years of accumulated dirt, grime, smoke and other pollutants that have been obscuring the glass faces of consumers' kilowatt hour (kWh)meters last Thursday and Friday.
About four to five thousand kWh meters in were recipients of these two-day project, according to their supervisor Edward Albin.
"Our meter readers and their monitoring officers thought about the clean-up meter drive primarily to remove doubt in the minds of our consumers, on the accuracy of their readings, as well as make it easier and faster for them to read the about four hundred meters each in their route that they have to read everyday during the meter reading cycle," Albin explained.
He said consumers are complaining of difficulty reading the dirty meter.
Matson Baledio, 28, a Beneco veteran whose route is at the CBD, said people's fear of getting electrocuted makes them afraid to touch their meters. "People tend to clean and repaint the surrounding areas of their meters, but do not touch the meters, and dust and vehicle smoke accumulate especially in meters encased in metal boxes along the CBD where traffic is most often busy," he said.
It is at the CBD that clusters of numerous meters servicing various establishments could be found in one building, according to Albin.
Gen. Luna, Magsaysay, Camp 7 satellite market, Otek Street, Harrison Road and Abanao Street were cleaned by the group under Gilbert Guiamoy last Thursday; while Magsaysay down to KM 3, 4, and 5 in La Trinidad, Benguet were tackled by the group under monitoring officer Sonny Sahoy last Friday.
Albin said although there have been efforts for clean up of meters in the past, those were just for a few routes, hence this is the first time that a massive clean-up drive was undertaken at the own initiative of the meter readers themselves.
"This is a very welcome initiative of our meter readers to complement the management's effort to improve their reading accuracy this year with several meter reading accuracy tests that our meter readers underwent and has been institutionalized already by Beneco as a regular measure to ensure their accuracy," Consumer Services Department (CSD) manager Brenda Carling said.
According to Carling, these accuracy tests are administered by representatives from the National Electrification Administration.
