ERC to bare decision soon on Meralco rate petition

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is expected to announce soon its decision on the unbundling rate petition of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

"We have finished all the public hearings on the Meralco’s unbundling application. We may be able to come up with a decision anytime soon." ERC commissioner Mary Anne Colayco said.

Colayco said the commission conducted the last meeting for Meralco’s unbundling application last Dec. 19.

But the ERC official said they have yet to collate necessary documents before coming up with the decision on Meralco’s petition.

"We are still waiting for some documents to be submitted to us by both Meralco and opposition," she said.

According to Colayco, instead of conducting more hearings, they decided to just ask the parties involved submit documents to support their respective claims.

The ERC has conducted more than 10 public hearings on Meralco’s unbundling petition, especially when the commission decided to consolidated the power firm’s application for a basic rate increase of 30 centavos per kilowatthour and the P1.12 per kWh unbundling generation rate.

Late last month, the ERC lifted the cease-and-desist order it imposed on Meralco which effectively allowed the power distribution utility to collect a deferred purchased power adjustment (PPA) of 7.3 billion.

The collection of the deferred PPA would be included in the unbundling generation rate of Meralco.

The unbundling rate application of Meralco has been pending with the ERC since Dec. 26, 2001 while the basic rate increase application has been pending with the ERC since April 2002.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Meralco should make a refund of some P8 billion to P28 billion to its customers due to overcharges made for the period September 1994 to September 2002.

It was not known whether the SC ruling will have an impact on the decision of ERC on the Meralco’s unbundling rate application.