‘Meralco, don’t delay refund’

Now that the Energy Regulatory Commission has ruled (finally) that the December 2013 and January 2014 rate increases were invalid, when will Meralco refund the bill deposit that it applied to our bills for those months? It should be sooner, not after three consecutive years of prompt payment of the monthly bills.

Meralco sent us a letter dated Dec. 1, 2013, informing us that they “have credited the amount beyond the required bill deposit” to the current month’s bill. However, the letter further stated that our bill deposit will be refunded in full only after three years of prompt payments.

Our bill deposit then stood at P10,470.35, inclusive of (minimal) interest earned. Meralco took the monthly average from November 2012 to October 2013 (P3,703.35), set aside that amount, then applied our bill deposit balance of P6,737 to our December 2013 bill of P4,629.30, leaving a bill deposit balance of P2,137.70.

In turn, this amount was applied to our January 2014 bill of P3,974.65, leaving an amount due of P1,836.95 which we paid in cash.

Thus, Meralco billed us in December 2013 and in January 2014 the rate increase which is the subject of the Supreme Court TRO, effectively bypassing that judicial order.

As a consequence of the ERC ruling, Meralco should refund the rate increase and the applied bill deposit just as promptly as it

expects its customers to pay their monthly electric bills.

—ROBBY DECENA,

[email protected]