ERC orders ₱2.8 B worth of refunds to DU customers
By Myrna M. Velasco – March 6, 2020, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has ordered a refund of ₱2.8 billion to customers of distribution utilities (DUs), which may translate to as high as ₱1.3182 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) pay-back in the electric bills of some consumers.
The lower end of that refund mandate had been at ₱0.0025 per kwh, depending on the scale of over-recoveries that the DUs and the electric cooperatives have previously collected from their subscribers.
The aggregate refund of the power utilities as estimated by the ERC had been due to over-recoveries in their pass-through charges. The magnitude of refund per DU had been estimated to be ranging at ₱657.58 million to as low as ₱107,000 and covering various billing cycles.
The regulatory body indicated that the over-recoveries had been from generation, transmission and system loss charges that were incurred “in view of the difference between the actual and the estimated costs of generation and transmission charges,” if based on previous billing months.
Additionally, the regulatory body determined over-recoveries in lifeline and senior citizen charges “due to variance in the discount granted as against the actual subsidy charged and collected.”
ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera announced that 63 DUs had been ordered to enforce refund to customers – 38 in Luzon, 13 in the Visayas and 12 in Mindanao.
“The refund should be effected for a period of 12 months, except for Manila Electric Company and Angeles Electric Corporation which prayed for a shorter period of refund,” the ERC chief emphasized.
The mandated 12-month payback to customer by the other DUs, according to Devanadera, shall start on the next billing cycle from the receipt of the ERC order, “or until such time that the full amount shall have been refunded.”
The ERC chief stressed “the confirmation of the DUs’ pass-through charges are meant to protect the interest of the consuming public by way of ensuring that what were charged and collected from them are reasonable and accurate rates.”
Relative to the refund enforcement, the DUs were further instructed “to submit within 10 days from their implementation a sworn statement indicating their compliance with the ERC order.”
The industry regulator also decreed that the over- and under-recoveries shall be reflected in the monthly computations of all line items that had been ordered for pay-back — to be labeled as other generation adjustment, other transmission adjustment, other system loss adjustment; and other lifeline rate adjustment.
The DUs were also directed to submit a report using the ERC’s prescribed format on or before the 30th day of the following month – and such shall be accompanied with their monthly reportorial requirements.
