The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has been named the Philippine winner of the Asia IoT Business Platform (AIBP) ASEAN Enterprise Innovation Awards for its entry, “Certified by Meralco (CBM) Platform: Uberization of the Meralco Service Application Experience.”

The CBM Platform provides digital solutions for Meralco’s nearly eight million customers. It bested five other finalists in the open category for the Philippines.

“With Meralco's drive for customer centricity and digital transformation, we continue to innovate by providing solutions such as the CBM platform. Our customers appreciate the convenience of a faster and more streamlined digital application process, cost transparency, and the assurance of reliable, high-quality service from certified service providers,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Ferdinand O. Geluz said. “Moreover, we achieved groundbreaking results not just for our customers, but for our contractors and frontliners as well.”

The platform, launched in 2022, centralizes the electricity service application process—from submission to construction and permit acquisition—and includes customer ratings for certified contractors.

Among the key benefits of the innovative solution is faster service application transactions as Meralco contractors realized improved efficiency, gained access to capability-building opportunities, and optimized their operations.

Meralco First Vice President and Head of Information, Communication, Technology and Transformation Rocky D. Bacani emphasized that simplicity and effectiveness were key to the platform’s success.

“The best solutions aren't always the most complex. What matters is addressing the pain point effectively. Simplicity, paired with positive results, user feedback and continual improvement, often proves to be the most powerful approach in technology and this is what we did with Certified By Meralco," he said.

In addition to the CBM Platform recognition, Meralco was a finalist in the Data and AI category for its Meralco Data Platform (MDP), which centralizes data from billing systems and online channels to enhance analytics and streamline business operations.

Out of 113 submissions from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, 56 projects were shortlisted as finalists.

The AIBP ASEAN Enterprise Innovation Award, established in 2017, honors organizations that have advanced their business through innovative technology.