Meralco assures customers it will refund ‘over-payments’
Power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) apprised its 6.9 million subscribers that it will refund over-payments that it had collected from customers especially during the questioned billing months of March to May this year.
“If you have paid your estimated March 2020 and/or April 2020 bills, Meralco will refund any overpayment to you at its Business Center upon presentation of your proof of payment and proper identification or authorization,” the company noted.
It similarly indicated that if the over-payment refund is not claimed, “the amount will be applied to future bills.”
As of end-June, the power utility firm announced that it already completed meter readings — including the 2.8 million customers of whose meters were just read last month. Accordingly, it said that all electric bills dispatched are already based on actual meter readings.
At the House Committee on Energy hearing on Thursday (July 2), Meralco also noted that no service disconnections will be issued to any customer until September 30 this year — that was so far extended by another month from an earlier cut-off of August 31.
The utility firm similarly conveyed the mandate of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that customers “are entitled to installment plan for bills falling due from March 1 to May 31, 2020.”
For end-users with consumption of 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) and below, the installment payments shall be stretched for six months — starting with the first installment on June 15, 2020 and will end after six months or until November 15.
The customers with usage of 201 kWh and higher can pay their bills on four equal monthly installments from June 15 to September 15 this year.
The power company likewise notified customers that “in case you have paid your March 2020 and/or April 2020 estimated bills and you want to avail of the installment plan, Meralco will refund the payments to you at its Business Centers upon presentation of your proof of payment and proper identification or authorization.”
The refunded amount, it emphasized, shall then be “treated as part of your unpaid balance and will be included in your installment plan.”
For customers who have had their houses unoccupied during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ periods and of which sent bills were based on estimate, Meralco stressed that payments made shall also be paid back to the affected customers.
On the June 2020 bills issued, Meralco qualified that these are already based on actual meter reading and reflects the actual usage of the customer. “You will only pay for what you consumed,” the utility firm reiterated.