Angeles power firm denies P528.9-million overcharges

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – The Angeles Electric Corp. (AEC) yesterday dismissed as “absurd” the allegation of a consumer group that it had overcharged its customers by P528.9 million from 2005 to 2008.     

In a statement, Myra Rivera, head of the AEC customer service department, said, “While the unbundled rates of AEC, under Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Case No. 2001-894, were approved in 2004, the implementation was deferred until July 2008 pending the resolution of a motion for reconsideration that was filed by the utility with the ERC.”    

“It is therefore impossible for AEC to have overcharged its consumers because its distribution rates were never changed during the said period,” Rivera said.      

“In fact, prior to the 2008 implementation of its unbundled rates, AEC distribution rates never increased for 12 years,” she said.

She added that AEC “has remained under the return-on-rate basis (RORB) methodology (from) 1996 until 2008.”      

She was reacting to a letter to ERC commissioners sent by Pete Ilagan, president of the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecor), who presented a study by his group allegedly showing that AEC overcharged its consumers by P108.9 million in 2005, P54.8 million in 2006, P160.1 million in 2007, and P205 million in 2008.

“We find this over-collection alarming because we take this as an abuse of market power when AEC decided to deliberately keep to itself these over-collections instead of disclosing this by way of a petition to reduce its current rates,” Ilagan said.

Copies of the letter were furnished Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and the heads of the Senate and House committees on energy.