PREPAID electricity is preferred by most consumers in Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) franchise area who cite the need to manage appliance use and match their household expenses with their income.

Alfredo Panlilio, Meralco senior vice president for customer retail services, said this was the finding in a recent consumer research that Meralco jointly conducted with General Electric.

“Prepaid and buying tingi or sachet is ingrained in the Filipino lifestyle. Many wage earners receive daily or weekly pay, so they would prefer that their expenses—from mobile to Internet and, yes, to electricity—be also on a tingi basis,” Panlilio said.

He said prepaid plans enable consumers to manage the timing of their cash outflows. Electricity thus becomes more affordable for some consumer segments.

The Meralco study also noted that consumers use the prepaid system as a budget tool, teaching other household members to save, and sharing expenses with other members of the household.   If customers are able to effectively manage their electricity consumption through the prepaid electricity, the Meralco study said, this could actually lead to savings.

Panlilio said the study produced valuable insights on how customers view prepaid electricity, and these will guide Meralco in designing the service it plans to pilot within the year and implement on a wider scale in 2012.

“This prepaid innovation is meant to give our customers power of choice. That is why we wanted them to be involved from the beginning of this undertaking,” he said.