ELECTRIC distributor Manila Electric Company said that they are always operating above board and have always been compliant with various laws.

In a statement Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga said that they are making such clarification after Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez said that they will investigate Meralco’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) to which it has at 14.97% since 2015, given that its power distribution coverage in Luzon is about 70%.

Likewise Zaldarriaga also noted that Meralco does not control power supply in 70% of Luzon since 90% of industrial consumption and 1/3 of commercial consumption in Luzon are accounted for by non-Meralco and competitive retailers like Aboitiz and First Gen, among others.

He also said that the power supply in the Calabarzon area is also supplied by many other electric cooperatives (ECs) and distribution utilities (DUs) such as FLECO, BATELEC I, BATELEC II, Ibaan Electric, First Bay, Quezelco I, and Quezelco III, among others.

“While Meralco is the largest [power distribution] utility in the country, it has never committed and has no record of any-anti competitive behavior or abuse of market power,” Zaldarriaga said.

“On the contrary, we have always managed to supply electricity to our customers in the most transparent and least cost manner, and is the only distribution utility that has complied with an ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) directive to refund distribution charges by refunding more than P48 billion pesos in 2023,”  he added.

Zaldarriaga said that Meralco had always capitalized on economies of scale so as to ensure that they have the lowest generation cost.