The House of Representatives passed on Wednesday a bill granting another 25-year franchise for power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco). 

House Bill 10926, or the proposed law renewing Meralco’s franchise, which is set to expire in 2028, hurdled House plenary with 186 affirmative votes. Seven lawmakers opposed its passage while four abstained.

Several groups and legislators have previously attempted to halt the renewal of Meralco’s franchise citing alleged questionable rush while there is a delay in addressing the alleged overpricing of power fees. 

In his speech, Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, one of the staunchest critics of Meralco who voted in the negative, accused the power retailer of “abusing its power” by not complying with the EPIRA Law, whose primary mandates include ensuring affordability of electricity.

However, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairperson Joey Salceda, among the bill’s sponsors, stated otherwise.

Salceda asserted that Meralco was fully compliant with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s rules and issuances, including its directives to refund customers' recoveries and collection of under recoveries.

Currently, at least P48.3 billion in consumer refunds have alredy been delivered in full by Meraco, according to Salceda.

“Meralco is an exemplar of how service reliability can create economic growth and development,” he said.  “As I repeatedly assert, the role of the franchise review process in Congress is to see whether a grantee has complied with its mandates. In this regard, there can be little question. Meralco has fulfilled its end of the current franchise law.

In addition, Salceda forecasted that the country could generate a net gross value added of P204.29 billion annually if all power and energy cooperatives and utilities perform similarly to Meralco.

“This is the fruit of some P220 billion Meralco invested in reducing systems losses and system interruptions. No wonder as many as 40 localities have asked Meralco to cover them,” the seasoned economist Salceda remarked.

Previously, the lawmaker said Meralco services an area responsible for about half the country’s entire gross domestic product, and about 26 percent of the population.

Nonetheless, Salceda is optimistic the Senate would expedite the passage of the counterpart bill.