Irregular and illegal

This is an interesting case involving the right of an electric company to immediately disconnect the supply of electricity when there is a prima facie evidence that a jumper or any other similar device has been used to deflect the amount of electric consumption, pursuant to R.A. 7832 or the “Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act”. This case involves Linda, a widow.

After her husband’s death, Linda continued living in their residential house in Bulacan together with a daughter, five grandchildren and a housemaid. Their electricity was supplied by the Meralco under the same contract of service entered into by her late husband with an average monthly electric consumption ranging from 578 to 721 kwh amounting to P2000-P3000. Nine years later however, their monthly billing had gone up to P7,793.60 prompting her to lodge a protest and a request for investigation, re-computation and refund due to over billing. The Bulacan Meralco Branch thus conducted an inspection of the meter and found it defective but not tampered. So it replaced the defective meter but did not however make a corresponding refund to Linda.

Nine months later, Meralco again inspected the meter but found no traces of meter-tampering. Then after another routine inspection two months thereafter, a Meralco inspector by the name of Santos accompanied by two other inspectors allegedly found that a self-grounding wire connected to the electric meter posted outside the gate of the house was being used to deflect the amount of electrical consumption. So he immediately disconnected the electric service, prepared a report and “Notice of Disconnection” and demanded from Lind payment of a differential billing amounting to P65,819.75. In his report, Santos stated that his team was also accompanied during the inspection by a police officer from Caloocan City by the name PO2 Perez although he had no written order from his Station and did not coordinate with the Bulacan Police Station.

When asked to sign the report, Linda refused and instead filed a protest with the Meralco Branch and at its main office in Ortigas Ave. She claimed that the inspection was not conducted with her knowledge or prior permission, nor were her neighbors called to witness it. She also denied having seen a policeman in uniform during the inspection.

But Meralco relied on the report of Cruz and sent an even bigger differential billing of P385,467.10 invoking the provisions of the service contract and R.A. 7832.

So Linda filed a complaint for damages against Meralco before the RTC. While the RTC dismissed the complaint for damages and ordered Linda to pay P65,819.75, the Court of Appeals (CA), on appeal set aside and reversed the RTC decision and ordered Meralco to pay Linda P100,000 moral damages, P50,000 exemplary damages and P20,200 attorney’s fees for disconnecting her electric service without due process of law. Was the CA correct?

Yes.  The prima facie presumption that will authorize immediate disconnection under R.A. 7832 will arise only if an officer of the law or an authorized representative of the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB) was personally present when the discovery was made.

Here, the police officer who allegedly witnessed and attested to the conduct of the inspection in   Bulacan was assigned in Caloocan City without any written order from his Police Station purportedly allowing him to escort Meralco inspectors in Bulacan. He was a police officer of  Caloocan City and not of Bulacan and therefore must act only within his assigned territory. Moreover, he and the inspection team did not even coordinate with the Bulacan Police Station.  Hence his acts in allegedly witnessing and attesting to the conduct of the inspection at Linda’s house are not legal and regular. Meralco cannot invoke the provision of R.A. 7832 and should therefore pay Linda the damages and attorney’s fees awarded by the CA (Manila Electric Company vs. Vda. De Santiago, G.R. 170482, September 4, 2009).

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