SC orders gov’t, Meralco to answer petition vs. electric bill deposit

The Supreme Court has ordered the government and the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to answer the Makabayan bloc's petition that the electric bill deposit Meralco collects from consumers be struck down as illegal.

"Without giving due course to the petition," the Court gave the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the Commission on Audit (COA), and Meralco 10 days from receipt of notice to file its comment to the petition, according to a notice made public Tuesday.

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives' Makabayan bloc, former Bayan Muna chairperson Neri Colmenares and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary General Renato Reyes, Jr. filed the petition last April.

The petitioners had urged the Court to permanently prohibit Meralco and other distribution utilities from imposing and collecting bill deposits and to void the bill deposit provisions in the ERC's Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers and its Resolution No. 28, series of 2010.

The bill deposit is an amount required to guarantee customers' payment of electric bills, according to Meralco. The company said the amount is equivalent to a consumer's estimated billing for a month.

The petitioners also asked the Court to order the ERC to refund the bill deposits, along with interest, amounting to what they said was at least P29 billion, to consumers.

GMA News Online has sought comment from Meralco. — BM, GMA News