Inihayag ng Manila Electric Company (Meralco) na susunod ito sa direktiba ng Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) na isauli ang ₱9.5 bilyon sa mga consumer matapos aprubahan ng komisyon ang refund ng mga overrecoveries o sobrang nakolektang singil.
Sa opisyal na pahayag na inilabas nitong Linggo, Agosto 2, sinabi ng Meralco na suportado nito ang mga hakbang ng pamahalaan upang mabigyan ng ginhawa ang mga consumer.
Maki-Balita: Utos ng ERC! Paano isasauli ng Meralco ang ₱9.5B sa higit 8 milyong customers?
Ayon Atty. Jose Ronald V. Valles, Meralco Senior Vice President at Head of Regulatory Management, ipatutupad nito ang refund sa loob ng anim na buwan, kung saan ang average refund ay ₱0.34 kada kilowatt-hour (kWh) para sa lahat ng customer classes, habang aabot sa humigit-kumulang ₱0.59 kada kWh ang refund para sa residential customers.
Ipinaliwanag din ng Meralco na sila mismo ang naghain ng dalawang refund applications noong 2025 at unang bahagi ng 2026, na sumasaklaw sa mga billing period mula Enero hanggang Hunyo 2025 at Hulyo hanggang Disyembre 2025.
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Ayon pa sa kompanya, ang refund ay bunga ng pagkakaiba ng Actual Weighted Average Tariff (AWAT) at ng aprubadong distribution tariff sa mga naturang panahon. Anila, mas mataas ang AWAT dahil sa mas mataas na konsumo ng residential customers kumpara sa iba pang customer classes.
Dagdag pa ng Meralco, ang tinatawag na true-up mechanism ng ERC ang nagsisiguro na maibabalik sa mga consumer ang anumang sobrang nakolektang tariff. Nilinaw din nitong ang mekanismong ito ay ipinatutupad sa lahat ng private distribution utilities at maaaring magresulta sa refund o karagdagang koleksiyon depende sa kanilang tariff computations.
Sinabi rin ng kumpanya na ang refund ay makikita bilang hiwalay na line item sa electric bill upang malinaw na makita ng mga consumer ang halagang ibinabalik sa kanila.
Maki-Balita: Meralco inutusan ng ERC, isauli ang ₱9.5B sa higit 8 milyong consumers!
Buong pahayag ng Meralco:
Meralco supports initiatives of the government to provide relief to consumers and ensure that they benefit from any approved refund as quickly and transparently as possible.
As such, we will comply with the most recent directive of the ERC to implement the refund of P9.5 billion over a six-month period, equivalent to an average rate of P0.34 per kWh, with residential customers getting a refund of about P0.59 per kWh.
To recall, it was Meralco that filed two separate applications for refund in 2025 and early 2026, covering the period from January 2025 to June 2025 and July 2025 to December 2025, respectively. This follows the previous applications of Meralco covering the period from July 2015 to June 2022, resulting in a total of P40.5B refund that was already implemented by Meralco from March 2021 to May 2023, and for the period covering July 2022 to December 2024, resulting to an on-going refund of P20B starting April 2025.
The refund pertains to the difference between Meralco's Actual Weighted Average Tariff (AWAT) and its approved distribution tariff during those periods. The AWAT of Meralco was higher than the approved tariff at those times because of much higher consumption from residential customers compared to other customer classes, which drove the Meralco's AWAT to increase. This true-up mechanism is part of ERC-approved regulatory process that aims to ensure that a Distribution Utility (DU) will refund any excess tariff it may have unintentionally collected as a result of the True Up.
This mechanism is applied uniformly across all private DUs, and, depending on each DU's sales mix for a particular period, it can result in either a refund or additional collection. In the case of Meralco, it filed the two applications for refund and not for additional collection, in strict compliance with the directive of the ERC. The recent Decision of ERC ordering a refund of P9.5B, more or less, approved these two applications of Meralco.
Other DUs have similar applications pending before the ERC.
As with previous refunds, the approved adjustment will appear in a separate line item in customers' electricity bills, allowing consumers to clearly see the amount being returned to them.
Photo courtesy: Meralco Newsroom/FB
