Consumer group asks ERB to deny Meralco's 30¢ hike petition

A consumer group is urging the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB) not to issue Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) a provisional authority to raise its rates as it had requested in a petition last Friday.

Meralco is seeking an increase of 30 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kwh) basic distribution rate to reach a return-on-rate-base of eight percent by the end of the year. RORB is a measure of profitability used by utility companies.

But the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecore) said any ERB action would preempt the Supreme Court. The high tribunal is still deciding whether or not to overturn a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling stopping the ERB from ordering Meralco to refund its customers whom it allegedly overcharged.

"We appeal to the ERB not to be precipitate in granting a provisional authority to increase without a thorough and transparent public hearing," Nasecore said in a statement.

The ERB can issue a temporary authority in the middle of public hearings.

Nasecore's request was prompted by an experience wherein the ERB issued Meralco a temporary authority to increase its rates on Jan. 5, 1994.

The corresponding order was issued 23 days later even though the board had yet to conduct a hearing on Meralco's rate hike petition.

Claiming that Meralco had overcharged its customers, the ERB in 1998 ordered Meralco to roll back rates by P0.167 per kwh and pay back customers about P10.88 billion in refunds.--