An infrastructure-oriented thinktank called on the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to similarly fine other power distribution utilities for also violating ERC directives during the community quarantine.

“The ERC is setting itself up to charges of discrimination and equal protection violations if it focuses its attention solely on Meralco. We have noted  that other distribution utilities (DUs) around the country had encountered similar complaints during the lockdown. By failing to include similarly situated DUs,  it is ignoring a larger segment of the population that had also encountered the same concerns in their electricity bills during the pandemic.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House energy committee member.

ERC should not ignore other complaints

Ridon said that during hearings in both House and Senate, customers from power utilities outside the Meralco franchiser area were also complaining in the hearings’ social media live feeds that there were also issues with their electricity bills.

“The ERC should resolve customer complaints on other DUs, to show that it is fairly implementing its mandate to ease the public’s burden during the pandemic. If not, it would appear that the commission is merely singling out Meralco to score political brownie points.”

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Legal challenge

Ridon, a lawyer, warned that failing to do so may be used by Meralco to challenge the fines in court.

“The basis of Meralco’s fines is supposedly due to violations of ERC’s ECQ advisories on April 15 and May 5, which require estimated customer billings to indicate the word “ESTIMATE” to clearly show that billing adjustments may be made at a future time. The advisories cover all power utilities in the country, all of which had undertaken estimated billing during the ECQ and encountered customer confusion over their billings. The ERC thus cannot say that the fines can only be applicable to Meralco without being discriminatory and violating equal protection.”

Fines do not benefit the public

Ridon said that similar to fines meted previously on other public utilities, the P19-Million fine on Meralco does not benefit the public in terms of reducing their monthly electricity bills.

“The interest of the public is not to increase government coffers during the pandemic, but to reduce their electricity burden during this pandemic. The public’s mandate is better served if the power regulator instead works closely with Congress and stakeholders on how to further reduce electricity rates at this time. Reducing taxes and fees on the power sector should be the priority, as this results in real savings to all households and businesses moving forward.”