FOR the last 11 years, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has been charging its subscribers more than what it should be collecting, says Congressman Dan Fernandez.
During the hearing that was called by the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, Fernandez took a swipe at Meralco over what he aptly referred to as “overcharging” for which he called on the power distribution affirm to return around P200 billion to its subscribers, noting that the utility bills in areas being served have been unjustly bloated since 2012.
Citing his team’s own computation, Fernandez said that the amount to be refunded could reach P160 billion – plus interest
"Plus interest, this could add to P200 billion due to overcharging and extremely high weighted average cost of capital, which amounted to 14.97 percent, and remains unchanged up to now," said Fernandez, who earlier delivered a privilege speech embarking on a proposal that would divide Meralco's franchise into three to make it more efficient to manage.
Based on the congressman’s computation, each of Meralco’s 7.7 million subscribers should be receiving around P26,000 to P30,000 corresponding to the amount they were ‘erroneously charged.’
Meralco In Control
"Meralco is the one controlling the prices of electricity because it is the biggest seller and biggest buyer (of electricity in the country)," the legislator noted.
Fernandez said that Republic Act 9209 allowed Meralco to be a "super franchise," where it was allowed to construct, operate, and maintain a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and certain cities, municipalities, barangay in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Pampanga.
He said that the rates of the power utility have been "provisional" since July 2011 and that its rate reset has not yet been completed.
Fernandez believes there was an error in the calculation rate for the third regulatory period from 2011 to 2015, which was carried from 2016 to the present.
"The provisional rate of Meralco is higher by about 20 percent, thereby making up for an estimated over recovery or overcollection, or overcharging, or in other words, excessive collection," Fernandez said.
Blaming the ERC
Fernandez recalled that it was Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga himself who admitted that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has ordered them to refund P48 billion to their customers through offsetting.
"They keep saying that it was not their fault that our refunds are being done through monthly deductions through our electrical bills, as it was stated by the ERC as the policymaker," the solon further averred.
"The certificate of completion of that refund, of P48 billion, I believe, has not been issued, and the remaining balance of the expected refund, of P112 billion, is still being validated by the ERC," he quipped.
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