GSIS: Meralco should first account for use of meter deposits before refund

MANILA, Philippines – The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) yesterday said the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) should first make a clear accounting of the money it collected from meter deposits before handing out refunds.

“They did not give the accounting. What if it went to a pocket of the few? Now all stockholders are suffering,” said GSIS general manager Winston Garcia.

According to Garcia, a member of the utility firm’s board of directors, the management of Meralco had no right to use the meter deposits in the first place.

“It is our money. Why were they allowed to use it?” he asked.

Garcia said the management of Meralco had not yet given him a copy of how the money was used, adding that he does not know when the board of directors meeting will be.

The Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday approved the rules that would govern the “Refund of Meter Deposits to Residential and Non-Residential Customers.”

Meanwhile, Garcia said he is also considering scrapping most of the Meralco subsidiaries which he claimed were loss-making ventures.

Among them is the Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp. (MIESCOR), one of the leading construction and engineering companies in the country with expertise in the fields of power generation, transmission and distribution, industrial plants, water resources and communications.

Aside from Miescor, the other subsidiaries and affiliates of Meralco are Corporate Information Solutions, Inc. (CIS), e-Meralco Ventures, Inc. (e-MVI), First Private Power Corp. (FPPC), General Electric Philippines Meter & Instrument Co., Inc. (GEPMICI), Meralco Energy, Inc. (MEI), Meralco Financial Services (FINSERVE), Rockwell Land Corp., Soluziona Philippines, Meralco Management and Leadership Development Center Foundation, Inc. (MMLDCFI) and Meralco Millennium Foundation, Inc. (MMFI).

CIS, Inc. carries three separate business lines, namely: solutions center services, data center services and collection services more popularly known as “Bayad Center.”

As a collecting arm of Meralco, CIS-Bayad Center maintains strategic value to the parent company as it continues to grow and expand its area coverage and reach through partnerships with third party collection agents (TPAs).

eMVI caters to the telecommunication requirements of domestic and international carriers, Internet and telecom service providers, data centers and businesses of all sizes.