DUs told to refund bill deposits of consumers

MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has called on other power distributors in the country to refund their consumers, following the initiative of Enrique Razon-led MORE Electric and Power Corp. to refund their customers in Iloilo City of up to P5 million worth of bill deposits.

ERC Commissioner Alexis Lumbatan said distribution utilities (DU) do not need to require their consumers to apply for a refund since the power distributors have the means to reach out to their consumers to facilitate the refund.

The ERC has earlier ordered all distribution utilities-both private and electric cooperatives to refund consumers of their bill deposit.

The bill deposit is a payment by the consumer by the time they apply for their own electric service.

The refund of the bill deposit is mandated by the ERC to all DUs, whether private or electric cooperatives.

Under Article 7 of the Magna Carta for residential electric consumers promulgated by the ERC, DUs should refund the bill deposit after three years or 36 months of paying on time and with no record of disconnection.

MORE Power last week announced that it has started refunding bill deposits to its customers in Iloilo City.

The move is seen to set an example to the rest of the DUs to take the initiative of bill deposit refund to consumers, according to MORE Power president and CEO Roel Castro.

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

“Since we don’t have any intention to use the money, we do not have the intention to keep the money; we do not have the intention of using it for our operation; why keep it when it is already due for return, for the refund to customers?” he said.

Castro said that if some of the consumers that the company has identified continue to pay regularly on time, they have around P5 million in bill deposits ready to refund to those customers this year.

Meanwhile, MORE Power Iloilo, through affiliate Primelectric Holdings Inc., is looking to rehabilitate and modernize the the electric power distribution system within the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO)’s franchise are through a joint venture.

Castro, who also serves as president and CEO of Primelectric, said there are plans to hold a referendum for the joint venture agreement with CENECO within this year.

“The requirement in the National Electrification Administration guidelines is a majority vote of 50 percent plus one from members in good standing,” he said.