Meralco customers to get P6.9-B refund after ERC confirmation

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Thursday confirmed its directive for power distrubution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to refund around P6.9 billion to its customers incurred from over-recoveries for the past three years.

"The Commission has confirmed the refund directive for Meralco in a Special Commission Meeting today. It is doing its best to fast track the release of the order and it will be implemented by Meralco on the next billing cycle after the receipt thereof," ERC spokesperson Rexie Digal said in a text message.

"Most likely, it will be reflected in the June billing of the customers," she added.

According to a report on "24 Oras" by Rida Reyes, the ERC computed that Meralco should deduct 75 centavos from its customers' electricity bill for three months starting in June.

"Nung in-automatically adjust 'yan ang ginamit na data ng utility mo 'yung previous month pero ngayon na nag-apply ka to confirm, siyempre ngayon alam mo na 'yung actual so the difference between the actual data and the previous month data na ginamit noon ... doon nanggaling 'yung discrepancy," Digal said in the report.

For his part, Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the power distributor will comply with the order from the ERC.

"Kung ano 'yung magiging kautusan sa amin as far as implementing the rates is concerned 'yun ang susundan namin. Kaya in this particular case, dahil nga sa mayroong over-recovery nag-file kami ng application to be able to return this to consumers. We do this review every three years," Zaldarriaga said.

With the 75-centavo per kilowatt hour refund, a household consuming 200 kilowatt hours per month may see a P150 reduction in its electricity bill, while those consuming 300 kWh will see a P225 reduction.

Aside from Meralco, the ERC is also processing similar petitions from 36 distribution utilities.

"It's a regulatory review that is being undertaken for all the distribution utilities," Digal said. —John Ted Cordero/JST, GMA News