Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has confirmed receipt of a Show Cause Order (SCO) issued by former Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chair Monalisa C. Dimalanta concerning its Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) with Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC).

In a statement, Meralco said it “does not only validate but scrutinizes the fuel components of the generation charges before these are passed through to its consumers,” stressing its mandate under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to supply energy at least cost.

The SCO stems from an ERC request in January 2023 for invoices and fuel cost computations covering January to October 2022. Meralco said it complied by submitting invoices from its then-existing PEDC PSA, noting these were already part of its regular reports to ERC.

On fuel cost computation, Meralco reiterated that the PSA was a financial contract “recognized as having a fixed price or single tariff” under ERC’s CSP Guidelines, meaning no separate fuel cost component applied.

Meralco added that it received no further ERC communication until the recent SCO—almost three years later. It questioned why the order referred to a terminated 2021 PSA, saying, “Obviously, MERALCO cannot submit a fuel cost computation for a period after the PSA had been terminated.”

The company said there is “no merit” to the order, calling it “a blatant violation of due process” and “unreasonable” to hold it accountable for documents “never explicitly requested.”

“It is unfortunate that one of the final acts of the former ERC Chairperson was to issue a fallacious order… leaving the incoming Chair to pick up the pieces,” Meralco said.

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