MANILA Electric Co.’s (Meralco) tariff for its lapsed period covering the years 2015 to 2022 was a result of a “transparent” and “fair” process, an official said.
The statement came after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) earlier announced that it denied motions from various parties filed in 2022 seeking to reconsider Meralco’s approved actual weighted average tariff.
“The ERC ensured that the whole process for setting Meralco’s final rate for the lapsed period was transparent, fair, and complied with all legal requirements and due process as all interested parties were given opportunity to be heard and in fact, submitted their comments and participated throughout the entire proceedings,” Jose Ronald V. Valles, Meralco senior vice-president and head of regulatory management, told reporters in a text message on Tuesday.
“All DUs (distribution utilities) and the consumers cannot afford any further delays resulting from the prolonged lag in the resolution of the rate cases of all DUs that are pending at ERC,” he said.
Mr. Valles added that these delays “cause grave and irreparable injury to all parties, DUs and consumers alike.”
In an order released on June 14, the ERC denied motions filed in July 2022 by the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms, Inc. and Romeo Junia. The regulator also denied the motion filed by former ERC Commissioner Alfredo J. Non.
The motions sought the reconsideration of the June 2022 decision and the dismissal of the case, according to the ERC, arguing that the decision was contrary to the aims and purposes of the ERC’s Rules for Setting Distribution Wheeling Rates and the intents of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
Mr. Valles said no tariff adjustments were given to distribution utilities despite their huge investments in terms of capital expenditure and operating expenses as the ERC has not set the rules to govern the lapsed period.
“The ERC correctly exercised its quasi-judicial rate-making power to fix the rate of Meralco, pursuant to the police power granted to it under the law,” he said.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — S.J. Talavera
