The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is considering subjecting Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to audit on the refunds it had conducted in the past to verify if they have been fully returned or credited to its customers’ accounts.
ERC chair Agnes Devanadera cited the need for Meralco to undergo audit by an independent party but is inclined to tap the Commission on Audit (COA) as “it is reliable and unbiased.”
COA had been tapped before to establish if the implementation of the approved unbundled distribution rates resulted in a fair return and the recovery of generation costs for Meralco.
“We are preparing to discuss our upcoming engagement with the COA as soon as practicable. We will rely on COA’s expertise to verify and ensure that what were supposed to have been refunded or credited to the consumers’ electricity accounts have been duly returned to them,” Devanadera added.
The ERC said COA will look into the refunds in recent years, including bill deposit, meter deposit, and income tax credits that it collected from its customers.
