ERC eyes 3-year implementation of court-ordered power hike

Higher power rates may be expected starting next year as Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will begin charging consumers for the recovery of P22.64 billion in generation costs.

The ERC said the collection may start in January 2024 and will be implemented on a staggered basis over a span of three years.

“Traditionally kasi pag mga cooler months, diba,  December, January, February, mababa ‘yung rates kasi mababa ang demand,” said ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta in Sandra Aguinaldo’s report on “BaliTanghali” on Wednesday.

(Traditionally, power rates are lower during cooler months because of lower demands.)

“Puwede ba na ang gawin natin ay habang mababa ang rates during the cooler months kokolektahin natin tapos isu-suspend natin during the summer months pag mataas yung demand. Syempre, medyo umaangal lang ‘yung ating magpapatupad doon kasi administratively, that’s a bit cumbersome,” Dimalanta said.

(Can we impose power hikes during cooler months and suspend them during summer? Of course, those who will impose this are worried because administratively, this is a bit cumbersome.)

GMA Integrated News sought the comment of Meralco but the power firm said it would wait for the ERC order before issuing a statement.

The Supreme Court (SC) affirmed in July 2022 the 2013 Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) order allowing Meralco to impose staggered rate hikes to recover power generation costs.

The commission said they will consider the effect of the higher power rates on consumers in implementing the High Court ruling.

“Medyo matindi kasi ‘yung pagtaas ng power bills natin. So sabi natin iayos natin ‘yung timing. Mukhang hindi kaya kung one-time big time or one year mo lang kokolektahin, so we had to go back, do the number crunching again and look at a longer collection period,” Dimalanta added.

(We asked them to take into consideration the timing of the implementation. We cannot do a one-time big time approach or implementation of just one year, so we had to go back, so the number crunching again and look at a longer collection period.) —Sherylin Untalan/ VAL, GMA Integrated News