Following the Supreme Court's issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the Php 4.15 Kw/H rate hike, the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) announced to reporters that it will likely defer payment of as much as Php 9 Billion to it's power suppliers. Meralco Pres. Reyes said the coverage of the deferred payment will be both for it's power purchases from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and it's bilateral supply contracts. He explained that the amount will correspond to the Php 3.44 Kw/H increase in generation charges, which was reflected in the utility firm's December billings. While he qualified that the company has yet to receive a copy of SC ruling, he indicated that their collections for December will effectively go back to December level at Php 5.67 Kw/H. Company officials similarly indicated that a refund process will be sorted out for customers who already paid their bills this month. Of the total payment to be deferred Php 6.7 Billion will account for Meralco's purchases from the WESM while the balance will be for it's bilateral deals covering both it's contracted Independent Power Producers (IPP's) and Power Supply Agreements (PSA's) with private generation companies.
