Meralco assures customers of refund on ‘excessive’ charges

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) yesterday assured the House of Representatives that consumers allegedly billed triple the average amount of their monthly consumption could avail themselves of refund if payments are found to be excessive.

Victor Genuino, vice president and head of Meralco’s Corporate Business Group, told the House committee on energy, led by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, that consumers who paid their bill for the month of May can get reimbursement at Meralco business centers.

Customers may also opt for credit in the next billing cycle for the month of June, which means any fee unfairly collected the previous month can be applied to the next electricity bill.

“But for the rest who may not have paid their monthly bills yet, they can still wait for their next billing so that they can make sure the real cost for the power they have consumed during the two-and-a-half-month lockdown is assessed accurately and fairly,” Genuino said.

Meralco conceded that all meters have not yet been read at this stage and that for May, only 65 percent of total subscribers have so far been billed.

Genuino nevertheless acknowledged that the so-called “bill shock” could have come from meter readings that have been accumulated since March 15 when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was imposed, and extended further until May 31.

The Meralco official made the statement following questioning by Rep. Bernadette Herrera of party-list Bagong Henerasyon who manifested during the virtual hearing via Zoom that Meralco should make sure that justice is served to its consumers.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers earlier called on the country’s largest power distributor to help ease the burden of Filipinos going through the lockdown by slashing profits with reduced electricity bills.

“If they want to help the country and its people, they should also look into the reduction of their profit margins. Just like what we sometimes say: this one is for the country,” he said.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga explained that the March and April bills were “estimated based on the past three months’ average daily consumption, following the Distribution Services and Open Access Rules (DSOAR) issued by the ERC.”

“The three months that were used as basis – December 2019, January 2020 and February 2020 – were considered ‘low consumption’ months as these were significantly cooler months compared to the summer months of March, April and May,” he said.

Zaldarriaga explained that other “factors may have affected customers’ May bill, including increased consumption during ECQ, as everyone is at home.”

Herrera had earlier warned that Meralco may be held criminally liable under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law for what is now dubbed “bill shock” that it gave to residential customers during the ECQ.

EVOSS Law

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to start implementing the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Law to ensure that the permitting process of power generation, transmission and distribution in the country would remain unimpeded.

Gatchalian, principal author of the EVOSS Law at the Senate, stressed the importance of the law especially during this time of pandemic.

He said EVOSS was signed into law by President Duterte on March 8, 2019.

Gatchalian said it would operate as virtual storage of integrated shared services of all government offices, including government-owned and controlled corporations and local government units involved in the process of power generation, transmission or distribution. Cecille Suerte Felipe