Meralco customers to receive refunds starting April

Starting in April, Meralco customers will be given refunds, which will be reflected as deductions in their monthly bill. According to a report on GMA News' "24 Oras," the refund that each customer will receive will depend on their generation charge. The greater their consumption, the greater their refund. "It would be most probably credited to the bills, or pagsasauli sa pamamagitan ng pagreduce dun sa bills," said Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga in the report. The refund was approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and is due to double charging by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) on electricity bought from the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR). "Yung sobrang naibayad sa NAPOCOR ang kinakailangan na ibalik sa Meralco," ERC executive director Atty. Francis Saturnino Juan said in the report. According to the report, the refund will be given over a span of almost six years. This was the length of time that PSALM had been overcharging Meralco., The report added that by Meralco's computation, P9.8 billion was overcharged by PSALM, but only over P5 billion was approved by the ERC for refund because some of NAPOCOR's assets had been privatized. However, Meralco may still petition the ERC to have the private companies return the excess money, the report said. "Kasama rin sa solusyon ng commission ang pag-uutos sa Meralco na magpetition laban sa mga kumpanyang ito nang sila ay makapagbalik dun sa sobrang naibayad sa kanila," Juan said. However, despite the refund, double-charging of customers still continues, a problem that the ERC hopes to resolve soon. — Amanda Lago/DVM, Gma News