ERC to review ‘service disconnection rules’ for consumers

Following a Supreme Court ruling affirming the rights of electricity consumers on unwarranted service disconnections, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) stipulated that it will pay attention to the tenets of that verdict on its planned review of the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers.

“Once we get a copy of the full decision, we will review if there’s anything we need to incorporate in or improve in the rules,” ERC Chairperson Monalisa C. Dimalanta said.

She, nevertheless, qualified that “the 48-hour notice prior to disconnection is already in the Magna Carta.”

The high court ruling stemmed from a complaint of a customer of power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) whose electricity service was “immediately disconnected’ upon the issuance of a notice – way back in 1999 when the regulation of the power industry was still under the defunct Energy Regulatory Board.

In the SC ruling, it rendered that “before Meralco can disconnect the electric service of a consumer on grounds cited under Section 4 (a) of Republic Act 7832 or the Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/ Materials Pilferage Act of 1994, there must be prior written notice to the consumer to disconnect.”

The high court emphasized that “the said prior written notice must be given at least 48 hours prior to the disconnection, pursuant to due process requirements.”

It had been on that precept then that the SC evinced that “the act of Meralco in cutting off the respondent’s electricity on the same day the disconnection notice was given to the consumer was violative of due process requirements.”

Relative to the high court’s judgment, Meralco told reporters that it will “respect and abide by the (SC) decision,” although it qualified that the incident in question happened way back in 1999.

“It has been Meralco’s policy to serve 48-hour prior notice before disconnecting any service to comply with the due process requirements,” the power firm stressed.

It is worth noting that following the passage of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) in 2001, the entire power sector of the country went through comprehensive restructuring processes – and the industry regulation had also been transferred under the tutelage of the ERC.

Way back in June 2004, the Magna Carta for consumers had been institutionalized by the regulatory body, and the rules governing the issuance of 48-hour prior notice to disconnection was prescribed under Section 19 of that edict.

It was primarily decreed that “for disconnections due to non-payment of electric bills, a written notice must have been served to the customer 48 hours before such disconnection.”