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MANILA, Philippines – Should the regulator order the suspension of the collection of Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) staggered generation charge?
At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, December 18, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Zenaida Ducut said, “We will need time to study this option.”
The possible suspension was brought up by Sen Ralph Recto, who said it would be best to wait for the results of the Department of Energy’s probe into alleged collusion among power producers that resulted in the hike in Meralco’s generation charge.
“Shouldn’t the rate increase be deferred until we have established that there was a collusion?” Recto asked.
Meralco however said the suspension would “not [be] fair and justifiable.”
“How will we pay our power suppliers if we do not collect from our customers? A suspension will only pile up the amount needed to be paid,” Meralco president Oscar Reyes said.
“We (Meralco) do not know what our power suppliers will do if we fail to settle our obligation.”
Reyes added that if it is proven that there was collusion, Meralco will refund its customers.
Meralco hiked charges by P4.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month and these will be implemented in three tranches. Bulk or P3.44 of the amount was the generation charge.
Consumer groups and other quarters questioned the increase, which Meralco said was a historic high.
DOE launched an investigation into Meralco’s computation and the alleged collusion among its power suppliers. The results of the investigation will be completed by December 30, the agency said. The Senate also launched an inquiry into the matter.
Meralco blamed the rate increase on the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas facility and outages of other plants where the utility firm sources its power requirements. But while Malampaya’s shutdown was scheduled, those of the other plants were not.
The shutdowns forced Meralco to source power from plants that run on diesel, which is more expensive than natural gas.
Meralco started billing its customers for the first tranche of the rate hike last week.
Sen Serge Osmeña, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, ordered DOE to submit the results of its investigation before January 15, two weeks before the second committee hearing on the rate hike set for January 23. – Rappler.com
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