The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has threatened to impose penalties against power distribution utilities (DUs) if they fail to refund consumers made to pay more than they should have.
ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera told Laging Handa public briefing Tuesday a number of electric cooperatives and DUs including Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) overbilled customers inadvertently due to misapprehension of the rules or by including fees and charges that should have been excluded.
She said the regulatory body has received over 47,000 complaints from various channels and platforms that are seeking for clarifications on the increase in their monthly power bills.
Among the extra charges that should have been waived are the FIT-All (feed-in tariff allowance), the universal charge, as well as the environmental charge.
“These are violation of ERC directives. We have written to inform them that these mistakes have corresponding administrative sanctions. If they fail to issue refunds, they will have to deal with us,” Devanadera said.
Devanadera said she was among the thousands of customers of Meralco that felt the pain of being required to pay hefty electricity bills.
She said that early on, ERC had already issued advisories to help Meralco clarify to customers that electricity bills during the effectivity of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) should be separately stated from the regular bill.
She acknowledged Meralco’s explanation that the concept of estimated billing was allowed by the ERC based on the billing average of the immediately preceding three months.
Devanadera, however, noted the load profile or consumption pattern was drastically changed because of the restrictions imposed with majority of the offices shutdown or going on reduced operations while people stayed indoors.
“The moment there is a metered reading, that (estimate) should have been corrected.
Consumers should not have been told to pay while the (ECQ) is not yet lifted. June 15 was the first date that the consumers can be billed for the first installment for bills on their consumptions during the ECQ months of March, April, and May,” she explained.
The official also expressed satisfaction with the assurance from Meralco that refunds would be paid to its customers and that the distribution firm will open additional windows in its payment centers to ensure fast and smooth transactions.
