Meralco urged to refund customers P29 billion in overcharges

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) should be accountable for its “suspicious practices of consumer overcharging and profiteering” and not just the P13.9 billion that it will refund to consumers.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate made the call after the Energy Regulatory Commission approved a petition to refund P13.9 billion to Meralco’s customers.

The average refund for Meralco customers was set at P0.1528 per kilowatt-hour, depending on the customer class.

“While it is welcome that Meralco will finally refund P13.9 billion of its overcharging for the 2015 to 2020 period, we call the company to also hasten and include in the refund the billions more for almost the same period,” Zarate said in a statement.

Zarate said Meralco should be “made accountable for all the amount it overcharged its captive consumers.”

“It should not be made to appear that they filed for the lower P13.9 billion refund to obscure or cover up the P29 billion refund we demanded for the 2013 to 2018 period,” he said.