SC: Meralco must give 48-hour written notice before power disconnections

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) ruled on Friday that Manila Electric (Meralco) must give at least 48 hours written notice before cutting electrical connections.

Earlier, Meralco filed a petition against the Court of Appeals (CA) decision which found them guilty of violating Republic Act (RA) 7832 for cutting off the electricity supply of a consumer without any prior notice.

Meralco had appealed CA’s decision and elevated the case to SC.

SC, however, ruled against the company and upheld the appellate court.

It declared that before Meralco can disconnect the electric supply to a consumer, on grounds cited under Section 4(a) of RA 7832, there must first be prior written notice to the consumer that the electricity line will be disconnected.

The High Court said under due process requirements, prior written notice must be first given at least 48 hours before the disconnection.

“Thus, 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,” SC stated.

It also decided that Meralco “is presumed to be in bad faith” for failure to follow RA 7832 in disconnecting the customer’s electric service.

“Hence, it denied Meralco’s Petition for Review on Certiorari, and affirmed the Decision dated November 26, 2020 of the CA in CA-G.R. CV No. 111808, as follows: the award of temperate damages is reduced to P50,000; the award of moral damages is deleted for lack of basis; and the award of exemplary damages is reduced to P100,000,” SC said.

“The Court ordered that the rest of the CA ruling stands,” it added.

The case began when a Meralco customer, Lucy Lu, filed a complaint in court.

She narrated that on December 9, 1999, Meralco representatives forcibly entered the premises of her family business in Valenzuela City.

Meralco had not issued a Notice of Disconnection, yet it immediately disconnected the electricity supply in Lu’s property.

Lu won a complaint for damages against Meralco before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Valenzuela City Branch 172 in 2018.

Meralco then brought the case to CA.

CA also ruled in favor of Lu in 2020.

The power distributor next went to the Supreme Court.

It received the same verdict that upheld the right of Lu to at least two days of written prior notice before a disconnection may be done.

Meanwhile, Meralco, in a separate statement the same day said that it will respect and abide by the High Court’s decision.

“We note that the incident in question happened 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,” it added.

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APL/abc / gsg