LAGUNA Rep. Dan Fernandez yesterday demanded that Manila Electric Company (Meralco) refund some P200 billion in overcharges to its 7.7 million subscribers.
Fernandez made the statement even as he reiterated his call for the subdivision of Meralco’s “super franchise” to make it more efficient to manage. He said the overcharging started in 2012.
“Based on our computations, Meralco has overcharged its customers by some P160 billion starting in 2012,” he said.
“Plus interests, this could add up to P200 billion, due to overcharging and extremely high weighted average cost of capital, which amounted to 14.97 percent, and remains unchanged up to now,” Fernandez said during the hearing of the Committee on Legislative Franchises.
Based on Fernandez’s computation, Meralco needs to refund all of its 7.7 million subscribers around P26,000 to P30,000 each.
He also renewed calls for Congress to cancel Meralco’s franchise or divide it to ensure true competition in the power market, reduce power rates, and prompt good service.
“Meralco billing rates remain unchanged, and is still provisional since July 2011 to present,” Fernandez told the committee.
“The rate reset since 2011 is not yet completed, the error in calculation of rate for the third regulatory period from 2011 to 2015 is not yet fully corrected and this error was carried to 2016 up to the present,” he said.
“The provisional rate of Meralco is higher by about 20 percent, thereby making up for an estimated over recovery or overcollection, or overcharging, or in other words, excessive collection,” he said.
He claimed this was even admitted by Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga in various interviews and reports where he stated that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ordered them to refund P48 billion to their customers through offsetting.
He added that only after the Meralco franchise is split into three–to serve the south, north and central sector of its current service area–can there be an honest-to-goodness assessment of pricing and efficiency.
