Meralco warns of higher power bills

By Romeo Sualibios

Power distribution giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) warned lawmakers that completely eliminating electricity theft and meter tampering could actually push power bills higher, sparking a fiery pushback from a key legislator.

Addressing a Senate Committee on Energy inquiry, a Meralco official argued that achieving zero non-technical system loss requires aggressive operational expansions and massive hiring.

Atty. Jose Ronald V. Valles, Meralco senior vice president and head of regulatory management, explained that incurring additional capital and operational expenses to wipe out illegal connections would ultimately end up on the electricity tariff.

Valles cautioned that if the cost to eradicate power pilferage outweighs the financial relief consumers gain from eliminating those losses, the extra expenditures would prove unfair to paying customers.

Unimpressed by the utility’s defense, Sen. Erwin Tulfo strongly rejected the idea that consumers should bear the financial burden of Meralco’s operational anti-theft enforcement.

Tulfo insisted that as a public utility business, Meralco must absorb its operational costs, adding that paying customers should not be penalized for electricity theft or forced to finance the company’s internal expansion.

The heated exchange comes as the Senate panel considers proposed amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), following President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s call to halt system loss charges on Filipino consumers.