Razon-led MORE Power earmarks P5M to refund bill deposits of customers

Iloilo City power distribution utility led by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) has set aside P5 million to refund bill deposits of their customers within the year.

In a statement, MORE Power said its refund initiative was based on Article 7 of the Magna Carta for residential electric consumers, promulgated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which states that distribution utilities need to refund bill deposits after three years or 36 months of paying on time and with no record of disconnection.

A bill deposit refers to a payment made by a consumer at the time of application for their own electric service.

MORE Power president and CEO Roel Castro said the company is "setting an example" for other distribution utilities (DU) to take the initiative to refund bill deposits to consumers.

“Even if the customer does not ask for it, we need to go out of our way to inform the customers that this is due you and we will return it,” said Castro.

MORE Power said it conducted a ceremony to pay out the bill deposit refund to the first three customers from Jaro, Iloilo City.

For his part, Energy Regulatory Commissioner Alexis Lumbatan called on other power distributors to refund their consumers, following MORE Power’s move to set aside P5 million worth of bill deposits for refund.

Lumbatan said that “DUs need not require their consumers to apply for a refund since the power firms have the means to reach out.” —VAL, GMA Integrated News