Meralco still waiting for ERC guidance on recovery of P22.64 billion from consumers

Published November 09, 2022 05:12 PM By TED CORDERO,GMA Integrated News

The impact of the recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling allowing the Manila Electric Co. to charge its consumers on a staggered basis to recover P22.64 billion in generation costs would not be immediate, Meralco said on Wednesday.

At a press briefing, Meralco vice president and head of utility economics Lawrence Fernandez said the power distributor was still waiting for “any guidance or directive from the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) to implement that Supreme Court ruling.”

The High Tribunal in July upheld the ERC’s approval

in 2013 of Meralco’s proposal to charge its consumers on a staggered basis and recover P22.64 billion in generation costs.

Voting 6-5, the High Tribunal ruled that the ERC did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it allowed the utility to pass the cost to its consumers.

The ERC in December 2013 allowed Meralco to increase electricity rates by P4.15/kWh in three tranches from December 2013 to March 2014 following the maintenance shutdown of SPEX-Malampaya which prompted them to buy higher-priced electricity from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“Sa ngayon wala pa kaming nakitang timing kung kelan siya mai-implement. Magdedepende kami sa guidance ng ERC dahil nga it will affect not only Meralco but all DUs (distribution utilities) and ECs )electric cooperatives) in the Luzon grid,” Fernandez said.

(For now, we cannot yet estimate when we will implement the ruling. We will depend on the guidance from the ERC as it will not only affect Meralco but all the DUs and ECs in the Luzon grid.)

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the company would “look into each and every individual account ang come up with a very accurate implementation.”

“We will find a way to mitigate the impact on consumers. If staggering will be part of what needs to be done to make it easier for them then perhaps it will be one of the options available,” Zaldarriaga said. —NB, GMA Integrated News

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