Meralco settles 80% of P30-B refund scheme

MANILA, Philippines - Power utility giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has paid P23.9 billion out of its P30.3-billion refund program implemented since November 2001, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said.

ERC executive director Francis Saturnino Juan said this represents 79.6 percent of the total amount to be refunded by Meralco.

Juan said Meralco is expected to complete the refund process, or pay the remaining P6.3 billion to its customers, by Dec. 31, 2015.

According to Juan, Meralco should have completed the refund scheme on December 2010 but the power distribution firm requested for an extension to allow them to locate customers who have failed to file their appropriate refund applications.

Juan said Meralco is eyeing several options in case it would not be able to complete the refund due to the non-filing of applications of some customers.

One option is for Meralco to wait for all the customers to file their respective refund applications while another is to put the money in an escrow to be eventually forfeited in favor of the government.

In 2001, the Supreme Court ordered Meralco to refund some P30 billion worth of overcharges collected from customers since 1994.

The refund process has been undertaken in four phases. The company has completed the first three phases and is now in the process settling refund for the Phase IV, the last stage of the refund which involves large accounts.

As per the ERC order for Phase IV-A (small commercial and industrial), the refund mode is through postdated checks (PDCs), credit-to-future bill or cash depending on the option to be made by the customer.

If the gross refund amount, however, is P5,000 or less the refund shall be made in full at the start of the refund period.

For Phase IV-B (large commercial and industrial), the refund mode shall be 21 PDCs corresponding to the quarterly refundable amount. The PDCs shall have sequential quarterly maturity dates beginning on the first month of the calendar quarter (21 quarters), maturing at the end of every quarter.

Phase IV-A is for small commercial/industrial customers and flat streetlights including government hospitals and metered streetlights with contracted demand lower than 40 kilowatts (kw).

 Phase IV-B, on the other hand, is for medium, large, very large and extra large commercial and industrial customers with contracted demand of 40 kw or higher.