by Myrna Velasco, 16 August 2015
from Manila Bulletin
Customers who have yet to secure their refund on meter deposits could still have until December 31, 2017 to make their claims with their servicing distribution utilities (DUs).
That was specified in the rules revision being crafted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) relating to the meter deposits refund that the industry regulator had also prescribed earlier.
“To ensure the widest possible dissemination of the order to refund the concerned DU shall cause the publication of a notice to all customers that their meter deposit refunds can be claimed until 31 December 2017,” the ERC has stipulated.
The ERC directive to the DUs will be for them to publish a notice of this in a newspaper of general circulation. The rules for this mandate are targeted to be finalized before the end of this year.
The original deadline on the mandated payback of meter deposits was December 2013, but this was later on extended by the regulatory body.
There had also been previous proposals to place ‘unclaimed deposits’ in escrow account, but the latest order of the ERC will be to have the accrued amount deposited instead in a single bank account “under the name of the DU in trust for the claimants.”
Beyond the newly-extended refund timeframe though, the ERC has indicated that “all unclaimed meter deposits including accrued interests shall revert to the government through an escheat proceeding.”
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