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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Power distributors owe consumers P200-B refund --- Laguna solon

Power distributors owe consumers P200-B refund --- Laguna solon

Published Sep 18, 2022 03:36 pm

Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez thinks that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has allowed power distributors which include the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to earn more than they should, as per Republic Act (RA) 9136.

ELECTRICITY POWER OUTAGE

He argued that under RA 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the ERC should have conducted a recomputation of the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) during the fourth regulatory period from 2016 to 2019.

According to Fernandez, this resulted in higher energy costs for consumers.

“ERC’s inability to do its responsibility as provided by law is highly suspicious. As a result of their negligence, ERC officials made electricity cost in the country one of the highest, if not the highest in the region,” Fernandez previously said in a House Committee on Energy hearing last Thursday, Sept. 15.

Specifically, he argued that the ERC used an outdated WACC of 14.97 percent, when the WACC for 2016 to 2022 should have been at around six to eight percent only.

In total, Fernandez estimated that Meralco energy consumers in Metro Manila should see a P105-billion refund, while consumers outside of Meralco’s jurisdiction should see a P100-billion refund from their respective distributors.

He further explained that since 2016, power consumers have been charged over P430-billion since 2016.

“This amount, unconscionably collected from our kababayan (countrymen) should be returned in full...ERC and the country’s power distributors connived in driving away prospective investors. They have settled in our neighbors, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, to name a few,” Fernandez concluded.

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