ILLEGAL connections of electricity, like using jumpers or direct tapping, remain a problem in the Philippines and are made illegal by the Anti-Electricity Pilfergae Act of 1994.
This law punishes illegal service connections with possible imprisonment and fines starting from P10,000, and any person caught stealing electricity or engaging in activities like meter tampering, illegal connections, or the destruction of transmission lines are subject to criminal and civil liabilities.
We know illegal connections – in the cluster of households or in public areas – are a threat to public safety, reason we join Meralco in its proactive campaigns against these so-called jumpers.
That’s good for the books. Beyond which there are brazen activities related to these illegal connections, and none, the letter of the law despite, has apparently been brought to trial, charged and penalized.
The least that had been seen, flagrantly in fact, is disconnection of electricity service, which is just one side of the coin, the other being the long and mind-numbing Supreme Court-ordered refund which customers paid previously.
The Supreme Court ordered Meralco to refund its customers for overcharges, specifically an additional charge of 13.27 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) collected from June 2004.
As chaser to that, the Energy Regulatory Commission ordered Meralco to refund an initial P987.16 million to its customers, an amount charged at 22 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and intended for expenses related to the regulatory rate reset process.
In an earlier statement, the ERC said it previously allowed power distribution firms to collect up to 47 centavos per kWh to tap technical experts for the regulatory rate reset.
Meralco is the largest electricity distributor in the Philippines with about eight million consumers in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and select areas in Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.
There have been instances when Meralco sent during weekend its representatives to areas where customers purportedly have not paid their monthly dues to disconnect electricity service.
Knocked senseless by the sudden appearance of the Meralco representatives, with their cutting tools at the ready, some are forced to participate, stealthily, in a corrupt practice that will at least give give the customers a few days breathing space.
In July 2023, the Supreme Court ordered Meralco not to disconnect electricity service to any of its customers without serving them notice of “at least 48 hours” to comply with due process.
We hope this process is being done, and add a higher hope that customers will soon, if the process has not been on the roll yet, get their refund.
