P9-B Meralco refund awaits ERC nod

Consumers may receive up to P9 billion in additional electricity refunds as Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) awaits the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) decision on applications tied to tariff adjustments.

Meralco senior vice president and head of regulatory management Jose Ronald Valles said at a recent media briefing that the potential refunds are part of the Actual Weighted Average Tariff (AWAT) adjustment process.

“We are just waiting for the ERC initial action on those applications,” he said.

The ERC uses the AWAT mechanism to review whether distribution utilities collected rates that matched their actual revenues and electricity sales during a given period.

The process is meant to ensure that consumers are charged only what is allowed under regulations, particularly during years when the regulator was unable to conduct rate resets for private utilities under the performance-based regulation system.

The possible P9-billion refund comes after the ERC earlier ordered Meralco to accelerate the refund of the remaining P14.17 billion from previous AWAT adjustments covering July 2022 to December 2024.

While an initial refund of nearly P20 billion began in April 2025 at a rate of P0.1189 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), the ERC said P14.17 billion remained unpaid as of February 2026.

The regulator has since directed Meralco to complete the remaining refunds within 12 months instead of the original 36-month period.

According to the ERC, the revised schedule raised the average refund rate to P0.2511 per kWh, which is being reflected in consumers’ electricity bills starting this month.

Meralco serves Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, parts of Laguna and Quezon province, and three towns in Batangas.