The Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered Manila Electric Co. to hand back an extra P2.64 billion to its customers for charges covering January to June 2026. The provisional approval was issued on 9 October, and the money will be returned over six months instead of the 12 months that Meralco had requested. The shorter schedule means customers will see the money back on their bills sooner, in larger monthly amounts than the distributor had proposed.
The refund averages P0.102 per kilowatt-hour across all customers. Residential users will receive a larger share, so a household that consumes 200 kilowatt-hours a month should see about P34.66 taken off its bill. The credit will appear as its own line item on monthly statements, labelled “AWAT (Refund/Collect)”, so that customers can see exactly how much is being returned. The amount each account receives will depend on how much electricity it uses, since the refund is calculated per kilowatt-hour.
The amount is the result of a true-up exercise comparing what Meralco actually charged with what regulators had approved. Its real average tariff for January to June came to P1.5537 per kilowatt-hour, against an approved distribution rate of P1.3522 for the same period. The refund begins in the first billing cycle after Meralco receives a copy of the decision. Because the order will be issued alongside the commission’s rate reset ruling, the regulator expects current rates to barely move.
In that separate ruling, the commission set an average distribution rate of P1.48 per kilowatt-hour for the period from July 2026 to June 2030, up from P1.35. The approved figure is about 37 per cent lower than Meralco’s own proposal and below the P1.60 to P1.98 range suggested by some intervenors in the case. It is the distributor’s first rate reset in roughly 15 years, making the ruling one of the most closely watched decisions the regulator has issued on Meralco’s charges. The new rate sets what the company can collect for its distribution service over the four-year period.
The reset applies only to distribution charges, the part of the bill that pays for Meralco’s network. Generation and transmission charges and taxes are not covered by the decision and will continue to be set separately. That means the overall size of a monthly bill will still move with those other components. Meralco had not replied to The Philippine Star’s request for comment when the report was published.
