Dominant distributor Meralco said all rates in the monthly bill have received prior lawful and regulatory approval and that they adhere to any orders for cost adjustments arising from regular reviews of rates by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The company even cited a recent study of the International Energy Consultants which concluded that Meralco's rates are fair and reasonable since they reflect the true cost of electricity as against other countries whose power costs are heavily subsidized by their governments.

ERC, the power industry's watchdog, has been ordered by the Senate to speed up the reset of the power distribution rate for Meralco, the country's largest distributor, to safeguard consumer interests.

Responding to the Senate Committee on Energy's call, ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta said her office will not be remiss in its duties and even acknowledged that rate reset for the regulated entities was, in fact, delayed.

Critical duty

"I share the desire of the Senate as well as other parties to expedite the delayed reset processes for our regulated entities. That is one of the critical duties of the ERC under the EPIRA, or the Electricity Power Industry Reform Act, since the agency was established in 2001. The present Commission will make sure we will perform our duties," Dimalanta said in a text message to the Daily Tribune.

Based on the ERC's latest timeline, the final determination for the fifth regulatory period rate reset for DUs, including Meralco, is in March 2024, which the Senate panel tagged as already "delayed by more than a year."

The Senate committee wanted the ERC to ensure that all bills passed by distributing utilities to consumers are fair and correct.