ERC To Hear Finally MSK’s Overcharging Complaints Against Meralco starting March 30, 2021.
21 February 2021
The Energy Regulatory Commission has scheduled for hearings on March 30, 2021 the various complaints of consumer group MatuwidnaSingilsaKuryente Consumer Alliance Inc (MSK) that were summarized in an email to the Consumers Affairs Division of the ERC on November 26, 2020.
In a letter dated 15 February 2021 signed by Commissioner
Alexis M. Lumbatanthe ERC cited the following complaints of MSK that the regulatory agency would look into:
1. Over recovery of P29 billion charges from 2013 to 2018;
2. Request the Commission to require MERALCO to charge billing at industrial rate the industrial power that was not used during the pandemic by the closed factories that were instead, consumed by the locked down residential customers from April 2020 to May 2020 and to be billed at the residential rate of P2.98 per kwh;
3. Asking for a COA audit of MERALCO for the multi-billion disparity in its sales and purchases of power in its audited financial statements and annual reports to stockholders compared with their generation purchase reported to the ERC;
4. Excessive and unjustifiable prices being paid by MERALCO to Quezon Power Ltd., its partner in Mauban for the first Nine (9) months of 2020. Allegedly, MERALCO’s P4.05 billion billing has been passed on to the consumers.
5. The alleged discovery of MERALCO billings big disparity in the kWh energy sales of MERALCO reported to the Commission as contained in MERALCO’s Annual Report show from 2019 way back 2015;
MSK filed the petition last December 2019 for the P29 billion over recovery from 2013 to 2018 resulting from the erroneous use of an understated annual energy sales in 2013 and the consequent higher per kwh rate P1.38 per kwh. The overcharging and over recovery continued when Meralco’s annual sales soared and the regulatory agency still adopted the same rate of P1.38 per kwh up to today 2021. The newbie Commissioners then were easy prey to Meralco’s bamboozling justifications…and hoodwink press releases.
MSK in its petition prayed for the immediate refund of 50% of the P29 billion or about P14.5 billion and the roll back of Meralco’s DSM rate by P0.28 per kwh.
Meralco has got to know that they have been over recovering but they will not complain because it is tens of billions of free money for almost 10 years now. Not to mention that their stock price at the PSE all these years have been buoyed up in the billions due to the inflated high revenue and income. Are there rules to protect the investing public?
How do we recover the tens of billions of dividends that Meralco repatriated to its foreign owners from Hong Kong and Indonesia?
The other MSK complaints that ERC will ask Meralco to explain are the following:
6. Inquiries and need to clarify with regards to the Distribution, Supply and Metering if MERALCO has different rates as approved by the Commission;
7. Explain the difference in the MERALCO rate for the large industrial customer in the range of P0.98 per kWh and for residential Customer charge in the range of P2.98 per kWh and explain why industrial is lower from residential?
8. System Loss charge to residential customers in May 2020 was P0.38 per kWh compared to industrial customer who are charged P0.14 per kWh;
9. Whether or not the rates disclosed in MERALCO’s monthly report to the Commission and posted in MERALCO’s website;
10. Whether or not MERALCO is gaining a higher revenue per kWh that run into billions a month due to higher Covid-19 usage by the residential customers who are charged at a rate of P2.98 per kWh for power that compared to industrial customers at P0.98 per kWh?
11. MERALCO allegedly gaining more revenue than envisioned under the Allowed Revenue requirement and MAP as approved by the ERC;
12. Whether or not MERALCO discloses its monthly generation costs to the ERC and the consumers showing the total kWh it purchased for the month, its total costs, and the resulting pass on generation rate to the consumers;
13. Whether or not the reports of MERALCO for the 12 months of 2019 indicating generation purchase was 33.565 Billion kWh at a cost of P174.859 Billion is correct; and
14. other related issues.
In its letter the ERC also ordered Meralco to respond within three (3) to the complaints of the consumer group.
We consumers should thank Atty Rowena C. Nidea, Head of the Consumer Affairs Section of the ERC, and ERC Commissioner Alexis M. Lumbatan for hearing our pain and taking steps to look into it. We have hope that they will really dig into these overcharging schemes.
God bless us Meralco consumers.
MatuwidnaSingilsaKuryente Consumer Alliance Inc,
matuwid.org
david.mskorg@yahoo.com.ph
