Meralco customers may get refund

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers may soon get a refund of overcharged transmission costs.

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) executive director Saturnino Juan said they have finished deliberations on the matter and would soon come up with a decision.

“There will be a refund because in the main decision of the commission, it already found that there’s a need. The question now is how much should be refunded and by who, to whom and how it will be flowed through to the end consumers who actually paid these amounts,” Juan said.

Meralco is seeking a refund of P10 billion covering double charges of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

Meralco earlier submitted the summary of transition supply contract line loss computation, including official receipts covering July 2006 to May 2012 to support its overcharging claims.

In March 2010, ERC ruled that there was double charging of transmission line costs on the start of operations of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in Luzon.

ERC earlier required PSALM, Philippine Electricity Market Corp. and Meralco to submit supporting documents for further deliberations.