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Consumers won't pay for Meralco losses during 'Basyang'


Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has assured its consumers over the weekend that it will not pass to its customers the losses it incurred due to typhoon Basyang in July. The losses that Meralco suffered, which amounted to P31.22 million, will likely be charged to the firm's insurance expenses, Meralco's COO Oscar Reyes said. Ricardo Buencamino, Meralco's executive vice president, also said that Meralco did not reach the level of charges where costumers have to carry the burden of paying system losses. "Under the [Distribution Wheeling Rates Guidelines], there is what we call hurdle rates. If [the losses] are higher than the hurdle rates, then the distribution utilities can recover from customers. [Since Meralco] did not meet the hurdle rate, we cannot pass it on to consumers," Buencamino said. Meralco officials said the typhoon caused multiple trippings to the facilities of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. The situation worsened when four of the National Grid's five transmission highways linking the North and South Luzon grids tripped. After the midnight of July 14, the remaining highway also tripped, triggering a total system collapse. —JE/OMG, GMANews.TV

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