Bayan Muna asks SC to reverse ruling on Meralco price hike
BAYAN MUNA party-list group on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to reconsider its decision upholding a 2013 approved rate hike application of P22.6 billion by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
In a 37-page motion, the group said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) abused its discretion when it approved the “highest power hike in history.”
“The highest rate hike is not at all the consumers’ fault, but those of the power sector,” said Bayan Muna. “Despite this, it will be the consumers who will bear this great burden and ultimately pay for the rate hike as part of our electricity bill.”
The group added that the court committed a reversible error when it held that the ERC did not abuse its discretion when it “hastily” approved Meralco’s rate increase.
Under the latest High Court decision, Meralco is allowed to implement an additional charge of P4.15 per kilowatt hour, SC Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier said in her separate dissenting opinion.
Bayan Muna pointed out that the ERC’s approval of the price hike violated the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2021.
Under the law, the ERC is mandated to enforce the rules and regulations that ensure the rational pricing of electricity.
The distributor is also tasked to “protect the public interest as it is affected by the rates and services of electric utilities of electric power.”
In 2014, the tribunal issued a temporary restraining order on Meralco’s staggered charges and recovery costs totaling P22.6 billion.
The country’s biggest electricity distributor applied for the rate increase after the maintenance shutdown of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V.’s Malampaya gas-to-power project, which forced the company to buy more expensive supplies from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
Bayan Muna noted that the ERC neglected its duty to protect the consumers from unreasonable prices of electricity.
“From where we sit, the consumers do not feel that their interests are being protected and promoted. There is a failure of regulation,” former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate said in a separate statement.
“With the current dispensation, the consumers’ welfare is not only at the mercy of the power players, but also at the mercy of how well (or badly) the ERC would exercise its vast powers,” he added.
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. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
