House bloc wants probe on Meralco’s May billing

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THE left-leaning Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives on Tuesday filed House Resolution No. 879 seeking a congressional investigation into what it said was a sudden increase in electricity bills of customers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) for the month of May.

“Such high and unconscionable electric bills only added more anxiety to many, especially now when most people are in dire straits to survive the harsh effects of the crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the resolution said.

The Makabayan bloc is composed of Carlos Isagani Zarate, Eufemia Cullamat, and Ferdinand Gaite of the party-list group Bayan Muna; France Castro, ACT-Teachers; Arlene Brosas, Gabriela; and Sarah Elago, Kabataan.

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The Joint Congressional Energy Commission (JCEC) co-chaired by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is set to hold a hearing on Friday and one of the issues to be discussed is the increase in Meralco’s May bill.

Makabayan noted that Meralco implemented an increase of P0.1050 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), from P8.8901 per kWh to P8.9951 per kWh last April.

The increase is equivalent to a P21 upward movement in the total bill of typical residential customers consuming an average of 200 kWh, which Meralco said was mainly due to the normalization of the universal charge following a one-time refund.

Recently, while Luzon and NCR were already in lockdown, Meralco said it invoked the “force majeure” provision in its power supply agreements (PSAs) due to the very significant reduction in power demand of its service area during the enhance community quarantine because of the shutdown of businesses. As a result, Meralco said it will reduce the fixed charges that would have been charged to the consumers;

Meralco claimed that the generation charge would have increased by P0.0259 per kWh if not for the invocation of the “force majeure” provision in its PSAs.

Meralco however attributed the increase in power rates for the May bills to the rise in consumption of electricity because of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), saying consumers who stayed home used more their appliances that consume more power, like air conditioners and refrigerators.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga has said the latest bill reflects the “full impact” of the ECQ which forced Filipinos to stay home, while the bills for March and April were based on the average consumption for the previous three months — from December 2019 to February 2020. The adjustments for the March and April bills were then reflected in the May statement which may be settled on a staggered basis in four months.

In a videoconference last week with members of the House committee on energy, Meralco first vice president Jose Ronald Valles said the company suspended meter reading activities during the lockdown in March as part of measures to protect its employees from contracting COVID-19. Meter reading resumed on May 6 for residential customers.

The Makabayan bloc said the rate hike happened even if there was an overcapacity on the supply of electricity.

President Duterte, in his May 4 report to Congress in compliance with Republic Act No. 11469 (Bayanihan to Heal as One Act), said there was in fact an “excess capacity over peak demands have been registered with Luzon only using 3,341 (29 percent) megawatts, Visayas only 858 MW (33 percent) and Mindanao 878 MW (35 percent).”

On May 11, the President also reported that “major island grids exhibited excess capacity over peak demand with Luzon at 23 percent (2,683 MW), Visayas 28 percent (718 MW) and Mindanao at 30 percent (743 MW);”

The lawmakers cited Sec. 4 (i) of the R.A 11469 which authorizes the President to exercise powers to enforce measures to protect the people profiteering, manipulation of prices and other unscrupulous business practices.

MERALCO BILLED

Meanwhile, the Power for People Coalition (P4P) sent Meralco a bill amounting to P19.126 billion for what it said were all refunds and interests that remain unpaid by the electricity distributor since 2003.

The bill was sent via email to the Meralco Corporate Office, in response to the bills sent by Meralco to consumers, which it said “has set social media ablaze as complaints of excessive billings were posted even on Meralco’s own Facebook page.”

P4P convenor Gerry Arances said the amount concerns all Meralco payables due to consumers that the company has not paid, including the refund ordered by the Supreme Court and the Energy Regulatory Commission for various illegal billing practices of Meralco since 2003, plus interest, “as penalty for their tardy and inconvenient methods of refunding, and as a cut of the profits Meralco made by keeping the cash for so long.”

“Following standard Meralco practice, we consider this bill immediately due,” he said. “Meralco wants to wish the issue of refunds away. Since we are on the topic of billing, we must be fair.”

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By retaining this money of consumers, Arances said Meralco “has been able to use the money in its cash flows and extract more profit from it, while making it difficult for the rightful owners of the funds to claim them.”

The amounted included 12 percent interest per annum, except for the 2019 and 2020 refund orders, which will be subject to the maximum 6 percent interest rate set by the BSP a year after the respective dates of the refund orders’ issuance.

“The claim for interest is only fair, after all, it was Meralco who consciously decided, after overbilling consumers and making them pay immediately, to delay the return of this money. The interest rate serves as a penalty for Meralco for its dilatory tactics, a way to minimize the effect of inflation on the consumer’s money, and of course, the proper share of consumers with the profits Meralco made with their money,” said Arances.

The total does not include ₱28.24 billion in bill deposits which Meralco refuses to return without at least three years of continuous payments to the utility.

“By keeping the money for three years, Meralco effectively has a three-year, interest-free loan from consumers and they would return the principal without interest only if you satisfy their conditions,” Arances said.

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