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Workers inspect an electric meter installed above ground in Manila on January 11, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

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Electric Meter Reading

Alvin Elchico

ABS-CBN News

MANILA (UPDATE 3) -- The Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered Meralco to refund P19.9 billion covering overrecoveries from July 2022 to December 2024.Average refund will be P0.12/kwh for all customers. For residential customers, the refund will be P0.20/kwh credited to the bills of its customers for 3 years.The ERC said it also ordered Meralco to immediately implement the refund in the next billing cycle. &quot;The Commission further directed the MERALCO to reflect the refund rate as a separate line item in customer bills as actual weighted average tariff or &quot;AWAT (Refund)/Collect&quot;. The distribution utility is also required to submit a report in the prescribed format until the amount of over-recovery has been fully refunded,&quot; the ERC said.The agency however also said the provisional order remains subject to further review and verification as part of the final evaluation of rates for the July 2022 to June 2025 period. Former ERC Commissioner Alfredo Non earlier revealed that based on his computation, from 2015 until today, Meralco stands to refund over P100 billion due to overcollection since its average distribution rate is much higher than it should be.Party-list group Bayan Muna meanwhile said it welcomed the ERC decision but said that this was not enough. Former Bayan Muna representative Carlos Zarate said the ERC to investigate what it said were the long-standing overcharging practices of the power distributor.  “The ERC must conduct a full audit and investigation into these questionable charges to protect the public from further abuse,” Zarate said.  Meralco meanwhile said it has received the ERC order on the refund, which will be reflected as a separate line item in the bills of customers starting  April.&quot;Another application will be filed after Meralco has incurred, completed, and determined the AWAT for the remaining period from January to June 2025,&quot; the power distributor said.Since the ERC order does not yet cover the overcollection from January to June this year when Meralco will presumably have a new average distribution rate, consumers can expect another refund this year.The ERC is still hearing a separate petition from Meralco seeking to raise its average distribution rate to P1.68/kwh from the current P1.35/kwh. It earlier promised to finish the hearing and issue a decision by June this year to complete the rate reset, which has not been done in more than a decade.

The Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered Meralco to refund P19.9 billion covering overrecoveries from July 2022 to December 2024.

The Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered Meralco to refund P19.9 billion covering overrecoveries from July 2022 to December 2024.

Meralco told to refund P19.9 billion to customers

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Meralco told to refund P19.9 billion to customers

Alvin Elchico,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 14, 2025 07:58 AM PHT

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Updated March 14, 2025 06:48 PM PHT

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