MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has assured its customers who have paid for excess electricity bills, that they will be getting a rebate or a refund of their extra payments, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) revealed on Wednesday.
ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera said Meralco assured the commission that it is reviewing all consumer complaints on the sudden increase of electric bills during the period when quarantine protocols are set up in the country.
鈥淜ung kayo ay nakapagbayad na鈥攌asi merong mga tao na talagang nakapagbayad na鈥攁ng assurance sa atin ng Meralco at 鈥榶un ang ating hiningi, ay kailangan i-rebate or i-refund,鈥� she said in an interview with ABS-CBN鈥檚 Teleradyo.
(If you have already paid your bills鈥攂ecause there are people who have already paid bills鈥攖he assurance of Meralco is there will be a rebate or refund according to our directive.)
鈥淎ng sabi nila (Meralco) on general terms, kung lahat ng nagbayad na doon sa bill na makikita nila na sa recomputation nila ay talagang sumobra, bibigyan ng rebate, and sabi nga namin baka i-consider na ninyo 鈥榶ung refund,鈥� said the ERC chairperson.
(On general terms, they said that if they see that based on their recomputation, the bills really exceeded that what was supposed to be, they will be given a rebate, and we said maybe they can also consider a refund.)
Meanwhile, Devanadera added that Meralco also assured it will disregard in its computation the Guaranteed Minimum Billing Demand (GMBD) or the minimum demand in kilowatts (kW) for business customers with a contracted capacity of 5 kW and above.
鈥淣agkausap na kami tungkol dyan, at ang ang sinabi naman ng Meralco, they will disregard the minimum and instead go to the actual (We spoke about this, and Meralco told us they will disregard the minimum and instead go to the actual),鈥� she said.
鈥淎t this point in time, you are prevented from opening your company, so how can you even have a minimum, so dinisregard na 鈥榶an (so that was disregarded), 鈥榶an ang sinabi sa amin ng Meralco ididisregard nila (Meralco told us they will disregard it). Ididisregard nila 鈥榶an at kung ano ang actual na makita nila dun yun ang ibibill nila (They will disregard it and instead use the actual bills in the computation),鈥� she added.
Earlier, ERC also ordered Meralco to explain how it billed its customers for electricity consumed during quarantine amid mounting consumer complaints.