MANILA, Philippines -- Leftist lawmakers are set to petition the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to order the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to refund the more than P400 million a year in pass-on charges to consumers.

“In the next two weeks, militant legislators will file a petition at the ERC for it to order a stop the anti-consumer practices of Meralco and other distribution utilities and to [order them] immediately refund their consumers,” Bayan Muna (People First) Representative Teodoro Casiño said in a statement on Thursday.

Other solons joining the petition are Representatives Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna, Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis (Toiling Masses), and Luz Ilagan and Liza Maza of Gabriela.

Casiño called the P427.5-million annual cost-of-power-consumption Meralco has been passing on to its consumers “the height of corporate greed and government collusion.” the lawmaker said.

In 2003, the Supreme Court ordered Meralco to refund its consumers P30 billion for charging them the company’s income tax payments from 1994 to 2002.

Casiño said the government, through the ERC, should stop defending Meralco for its “immoral conduct charging its consumers for systems losses and its own electricity consumption.”

However, he said Meralco alone is not to blame for the rising cost of electricity.

“For all [their] gung-ho bashing of Meralco, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her minions have the greater accountability for generating and keeping anti-people laws in place that allow Meralco and other power distributors to pass on onerous charges [to] consumers,” Casino said.

“Meralco must refund its consumers and government must [he held to] account for allowing these crimes to happen at the expense of the citizenry,” he said.

Aside from the petition to be filed before the ERC, Casino said their bloc will also file bills to amend the expanded value-added tax law by removing the tax on power.