Meralco owes its customers P150B in refunds – ex-ERC chief

A FORMER commissioner of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) should refund its customers P150 billion and cut power rates after the government regulator re-computes its weighted average cost of capital (WACC).

Alfredo Non said that based on his computation, Meralco customers were entitled to the following refunds:

– P2,700 for those consuming 200 kWh monthly

– P9,500 for those consuming 300 kWh monthly

– P15,500 for those consuming 400 kWh monthly

– P51,000 for those consuming 1,000 kWh or more monthly.

«So P150 billion should be returned to us. I have already submitted my proposed computation to ERC,» Non said.

He said his computation included new rates that Meralco should charge after the refund is completed.

Non said the following rate cuts should be implemented:

– P22 per month for those consuming 200 kWh monthly

– P79 per month for those consuming 300 kWh monthly

– P129 per month for those consuming 400 kWh monthly

– P428 per month for those consuming 1,000 kWh or more monthly.

He said the refund was mainly because Meralco charged P1.47 per kWh, although the provisional authority rate was only P1.38 per kWh.

«Since 2012, there have been no complete rates,» said Non.

«The rates should be reset every four years. So, that means Meralco does not have a final rate,» he said.

He said Meralco bases its rate on the provisional P1.38 per kWh, which is «only temporary,» but it is not being followed.

«From 2012 until now, Meralco's average billing rate to us is P1.47 per kWh. So, there is already an overbilling of P0.09 per kWh,» said Non.

He claimed there was an error in computing the provisional rate and that it should only be P1.05 or P1.06 per kWh.

«There are two issues here,» Non said. «The wrong computation from 2012 to 2015 and the WACC,» he said.

«These are the two things that will change our rate: if the error is corrected and the decrease in interest rates.»

WACC is one of the «building blocks» for computing power costs under the government's rate-setting methodology called the Performance-Based Regulation.

Earlier, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said the unadjusted WACC is the main reason for the consistently high power