What can we expect from Meralco in the coming months?

Electricity has always been one of our major household expenses since we own and use all sorts of appliances. This is especially true during the summer when we turn on the air conditioners more. Thus when Meralco invited a handful of media folks and bloggers to view their exhibit which showcases what they have in store for subscribers, I grabbed the opportunity to see for myself.

We all gathered around the exhibit proper wondering what plans Meralco had for the coming months and years.

We started with the Smart Grid, a digital technology that automates Meralco's distribution systems.

They explained that this makes it easier to ensure that our electricity supply is uninterrupted since everything can now be monitored and controlled from remote locations in real time. With this in place, Meralco can easily determine the health of the electric grid simply by looking at a computer screen. The usual problems like overloading can now be prevented, making the system much more efficient. We will experience less power failures as a result.

We were then shown the Smart Meter. This is actually going to be used for prepaid electricity which Meralco plans to implement by next year. It's designed to make it easier for people to budget their electric usage since you decide how much credit to load into your account.

You can top up your credit via SMS in real time using your cellphone. It's that easy. :)

Meralco has also come up with a way for subscribers to manage electric consumption more conveniently by installing an energy management portal in your own home.

A small square LCD box is connected to your meter. You can preset it to reflect your desired level of electric consumption at home. It's color-coded so that the screen turns red when you are going over your target consumption. It's green when you are on the optimal consumption level. This helps you stay within your monthly budget.

You can even use your iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad to monitor how much electricity is being consumed on a per room or per appliance basis.

The Smart Home was introduced to us. It entails adding the "smart plug" to your current TV, DVD player, refrigerator, or any other appliance. You can then program them or switch on/off via your phone or tablet. The good news is you can do this in real time even when you're not at home so you can have peace of mind since you can make sure all your appliances are off.

The concept of the Home Area Network was demonstrated too. They showed us how we can lock and unlock our doors using a control panel on the iPad.

We saw the lock and unlock action of the door as controlled from the iPad.

You can actually control your whole house from the iPad. You no longer have to stress about getting up at night just to check if you've locked the door, turned off the lights, etc.

You can even use the Home Area Network to tighten security around the house's vicinity via security cameras which can be viewed from your tablet or cellphone.

This is a sample of what you can see from the cameras.

The introduction of Meralco Apps make life a lot more convenient since you can do everything from estimate your household's electrical consumption, check power maintenance schedules, find the nearest Meralco business office, and even access your bill.

Meralco has certainly come a long way with all these innovations. We were told that we will probably start seeing the implementation of these systems by the first half of next year. I actually like the idea of having all my Meralco bills on file online since it eliminates the need for paper which helps save trees and lessens the trash we need to dispose of.

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