The Energy Regulatory Commission has approved Manila Electric Co.’s petition to refund consumers around P6.9 billion which will hopefully be implemented in the June bills of consumers.
ERC Commissioner and officer-in-charge Alfredo Non said the commission has confirmed the previous decision on Meralco’s application which was issued prior to the suspension of chairman Jose Vicente Salazar.
“Yes. Same as the previous order. We just confirmed it,” Non said.
He said consumers will enjoy a P0.75 per kilowatthour refund over a three-month period but is unsure if it can be released in time for the June billing.
“I believe so. Don’t know if it can be accommodated by Meralco billing cutoff,” Non said.
ERC Commissioner Josefina Asirit said last week the commissioners will meet this week to reconfirm the order for the refund.
In an application, Meralco asked the ERC to refund around P6.9 billion representing underrecovery for the generation, transmission for the period the period covering January 2014 to December 2016.
Meralco wants to refund generation charges amounting P4.9 billion for a period of 36 months a rate of P0.0502 per kWh, transmission charges of P632.2 million for 36 months at P0.0051 per kWh, system loss rates of P1.242 billion for 36 months for P0.0099 per kwh and senior citizen discount and subsidiary at P2.32 million for one month at a rate of P0.0011 per kWh.
Meralco, however, wants to recover for consumer P1.089-billion covering real property taxes over a period of 36 months at a rate of P0.0087 per kWh.
“These over/underrecoveries shall be made to both captive and contestable customers,” it said.
ERC allows distribution utilities to file their respective consolidated applications every three years for the confirmation of pass-through charges.
Meralco head for utility economics Lawrence Fernandez said that once the order is issued, they can implement the refund by next month.
“We can implement it by June. We are still waiting for the order,” Fernandez said.