COA rejects ERC request to audit Meralco
By Lenie Lectura – September 14, 2020
from Business Mirror
THE Commission on Audit (COA) has informed the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that it will not audit the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
“We wrote them but their response was in the negative,” ERC Commissioner Rexie Digal said Monday.
“(COA) said it is our function,” added Digal when asked why COA rejected the ERC proposal.
The ERC is now exploring options including tapping a third-party to conduct the audit. “On the options after COA denial of our request, we will be hiring external auditors or hiring additional manpower to do the audit.” The agency earlier sought the assistance of the Commission on Audit (COA) to verify if Meralco has returned the overcharges or credited to its customers’ accounts. This is in connection with earlier ERC refund orders on Bill Deposit, Meter Deposit, and Income Tax.
According to ERC Chairperson and CEO Agnes VST Devanadera, the agency is short of auditors so it opted to seek the assistance of the COA to find out if the refunds that Meralco was supposed to have undertaken have already been completed or not.
Devanadera added that the COA is the best entity that could render evaluation on Meralco’s refund because it is “reliable and unbiased.”
It can be recalled that the ERC had previously sought the assistance of the COA to establish whether the implementation of the approved unbundled distribution rates resulted in a fair return and the recovery of generation costs were indeed revenue-neutral to Meralco. The COA then conducted a complete audit of the books, records, and accounts of Meralco.
For Meralco’s part, company spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the utility firm had complied with most of the ERC’s refund orders.
“Yes, we have complied. On the bill deposit, we call that annual updating. If the subscriber is compliant, the refund is ongoing. On meter deposit, the refund process is already completed. What’s left is the SC (Supreme Court) refund,” he said in a text message.
Under ERC rules on bill deposit, the bill deposit refund can be done within one month from the termination of service provided all bills have been paid and identification requirements have been complied with.
A customer can also apply for a full refund of the bill deposit prior to the termination of service, provided that all bills are paid on or before the due date for three consecutive years.
On income tax charges that were collected, Meralco said earlier that around P2.3 billion has yet to be returned to customers.
