The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Wednesday it will evaluate the application of Manila Electric Co. to refund consumers up to P19 billion for its lapsed regulatory period from July 2022 to June 2025.
“We will evaluate their filing, hold hearings. We will evaluate first for issuance of provisional authority,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.
Meralco asked ERC to approve its calculated refund equivalent to an average P0.1138 per kilowatt-hour within 36 months or until fully refunded.
Residential customers are expected to have a bigger refund of P0.1937 per kWh. This involved Meralco’s application for confirmation of the true-up calculation of the actual weighted average tariff vis-a-vis approved final distribution rate implemented during the lapsed period.
“The filing was in compliance with ERC’s Dec. 24 order, which declared the period July 2022 to June 2025 as lapsed period and which ordered Meralco to submit a proposal to refund the difference between Meralco’s actual weighted average tariff [AWAT] during the said period and the ERC-approved MAP for Meralco of around P1.35 per kWh,” Meralco head of utility economics Lawrence Fernandez said.
Meralco sought the issuance of a provisional authority to implement the refund, pending the final approval of the application for customers to immediately enjoy the refund.
Meralco also asked the ERC to offset its over-refund in the implementation of the distribution rate true up for July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2022 amounting to P862 million. The amount is lower than Meralco’s earlier estimate of P16 billion.
“We anticipate that once ERC has released the decision on our 5RP treating it as lapsed period and confirming that our rate for 5RP is pegged at P1.3522 per instead of P1.57 per kWh that Meralco has applied for, the ERC will direct Meralco to refund the AWAT in excess of P1.3522 per kWh covering the entire 5RP,” Meralco senior vice president and head of regulatory management Jose Ronald Valles said earlier.