Meralco to advance meter deposits refund

MANILA, Philippines - Electricity distributor Manila Electric Co. will make an early refund of the meter deposit to its customers. In a briefing on Tuesday, the company said it will advance the refund to November instead of January. Robert Almazora, Meralco’s first vice-president and customer retail services chief, said lifeline users, those consuming 100 kilowatthours and below, will be the first to receive their refund at an average of P800 per account. “We’re working hard to start the implementation of the meter deposit refund and we will start as early as November instead of the January deadline. We will start with the residential, the lowest consumption bracket," Almazora said. He added that the refund is estimated to reach P2.8 billion, of which P1.5 billion is the principal amount and P1.3 billion as the interest. Of the refund amount, about 61 percent will be for Meralco’s residential customers, 30. 5 percent will go to the commercial and industrial, 6.5 percent for the small commercial and 2 percent will be for streetlights. Almazora said Meralco is looking at a five-year period to implement the refund. Three years will be devoted for the refund of residential customers, which now number about 1.8 million. He said eligible customers are those who paid for the meter deposits, covering the period 1987 following the order 85-21 of the then Board of Energy until 2004 when the government issued the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers. The Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers and the Distribution Services and Distribution System Open Access Rules promulgated by the Commission on June 17, 2004 and January 18, 2006, respectively, provided the basis in exempting electricity consumers from paying meter deposits. In its resolution issued last June, the Energy Regulatory Commission ordered Meralco to refund the meter deposits paid by their customers. Under the rules “the refund of meter deposits will start not later than six months from its effectivity in the case of private DUs (including MERALCO) customers and within 24 months in the case of non-stock and non-profit electric cooperatives." Residential customers as well as non-residential customers who paid their meter deposits prior to the effectivity of ERB Resolution 95-21 (Standard Rules Governing Electrical Power Services promulgated on September 22, 1995) will be entitled to 6 percent per annum interest while meter deposits that were paid from the effectivity of Res. No. 95-21 until the day prior to the effectivity of the Magna Carta (for residential customers) or DSOAR (for non-residential customers) will earn an interest of 10 percent per annum. On the other hand, meter deposits paid from the effectivity of the Magna Carta or DSOAR until the day prior to the start of the refund will be entitled to an interest of 6 percent per annum. The payment of 6 percent or 10 percent interest will depend on when the meter deposit was paid. Francis Saturnino Juan, executive director of ERC, said that in case of some unclaimed meter deposits, “upon the prescription period of the refund, all unclaimed meter deposits including all appropriate accrued interest shall be deposited in an escrow account in a bank." “Unclaimed meter deposits will not go to the DU. We will ask from the Office of the Solicitor General to start the exit proceeding in order to forfeit the unclaimed deposits to the state. The DUs will be the one to determine which bank. And afterwards, they will report to ERC to audit the implementation of the refund to check if there were either refunds that were not given or not claimed. In this way, we will find out which bank the DUs will choose for its escrow account and if ready we can have the exit process started," Juan said in an earlier interview. He added the ERC will also conduct the audit to determine if there are unclaimed meter deposits. Customers will be given 10 years from the time the unclaimed deposits were put in escrow to claim their refund. The government will forfeit any unclaimed deposits. Meanwhile, lawyer Monico Jacob, head of Meralco’s legal counsel, said the company will file a motion with the regional trial court of Makati to dismiss the “syndicated estafa" case filed by consumer group National Association of Electricity Consumer for Reforms (Nascore). “Our lawyers are filing a motion for the judicial termination of the probable cause," Jacob said. He said the case filed by Nasecore has no merit as Meralco is set to implement the refund in the next two months. Elpi Cuna, vice-president for corporate communications of Meralco, on the other hand, said that the decision of the Department of Justice on the syndicated estafa case filed by Nasecore is nothing but “harassment" and a “concentrated attack against Meralco". Pete Ilagan, president of Nasecore has charged Meralco officials before the DoJ of syndicated estafa for its alleged failure to indicate in its financial reports that the P889 million meter deposits collected from its customers and instead listed it as its income. Among those charged were Meralco Chairman Manuel Lopez and the 2006 board of directors Arthur Defensor Jr., Gregory Domingo, Octavio Victor Espiritu, Christian Monsod, Federico Puno, Washington Sycip, Emilio Vicens, Francisco Viray and Cesar Virata. Also charged with syndicated estafa are Daniel Tagaza, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Meralco; Rafael Andrada, first vice president and treasurer; Helen de Guzman, vice president and corporate auditor and compliance officer; Antonio Valera, vice president and assistant comptroller; and Manolo Fernando, senior assistant vice president and assistant treasurer In a resolution penned by Regional State Prosecutor Jaime Umpa, the DOJ found probable cause to prosecute officials of Meralco. According to the panel Meralco has booked its income the interest earned by the meter and bill deposits of its subscribers amounting P889 million. GMANews.TV