Meralco asks regulator to dismiss petition filed by Millennium Energy

Posted on July 25, 2016 distinction
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Corporate&title=meralco-asks-regulator-to-dismiss-petition-filed-by-millennium-energy&id=130891

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to dismiss Millennium Energy Inc.’s petition seeking relief from the payment of P34.5 million in unpaid billings from the distribution utility.

Meralco filed the petition on June 30, 2016, but in a subsequent hearing, Millennium asked that it be given five days to file a comment on the utility’s motion, to which Meralco asked the same number of days to reply.

In an order dated July 18, 2016, the ERC said it deemed Meralco’s motion to dismiss as well as the opposition filed by Millennium, as submitted for resolution.

Millennium’s petition stemmed from the distribution wheeling services agreement (DWSA) it entered with Meralco on August 26, 2015 after the two forged an interconnection agreement on July 29, 2015 setting the costs necessary to connect the 100-megawatt Millennium gas turbine power plant to Meralco’s distribution system. The two agreed the deal to be effective retroactively to March 15, 2015 and until March 25, 2016.

Millennium said that since the DWSA took effect, the company had been paying Meralco distribution wheeling charges ranging from P12 million to P15 million, which was computed based on the minimum billing demand or the actual highest demand registration within the billing month, whichever is higher.

Aside from a bill deposit of about P5.821 million, Millennium said it had paid as of November 2015 around P92.11 million as distribution wheeling charges, which include value-added tax. The company said the charges were on top of the P49.36 million it shouldered and advanced to hasten interconnection activities. -- Victor V. Saulon