Iloilo City, Philippines - More Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) consumers in Iloilo City will receive a one-time refund of pass-on charges, benefiting approximately 92,000 customers with an estimated total of PHP141 million. Niel Parcon, Vice President for Corporate Energy Sourcing and Regulatory Affairs of MORE Power, explained in an interview that pass-on charges include various costs billed by the supplier, such as generation charge, transmission charge, systems loss charge, and charges for lifelines and senior citizens.
According to Philippines News Agency, the refund pertains to the differences in billed amounts computed from January 23 this year until September. This calculation will result in a rate reduction of PHP2.7644 per kilowatt-hour for the billing cycle of November 18 to December 14. The refund is mandated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Resolution No. 14, series of 2022, which prescribes revised rules on automatic cost adjustment and true-up mechanisms for distribution utilities. The basis for the refund was a discrepancy due to the reliance on previous bills from suppliers for computation, creating a timing difference, especially with the downward trend in generation charges. The ERC requires a refund when the over-recovery exceeds the distribution utility's revenue for three months by 10 percent. This order applies to all distribution utilities in the Philippines, provided they exceed the ERC's set threshold. All consumer classes, including residential, commercial, industrial, and government accounts, are eligible for this refund.