Meralco urged lawmakers to consider how removing system loss charges from electricity bills could affect power distributors’ operations and sustainability.
The statement followed President Bongbong Marcos’s July 27 call for Congress to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. Marcos wants utilities barred from passing system loss costs and the value-added tax on those charges to consumers.
Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Aperocho said the utility respects the President’s policy direction and will join deliberations on the amendments.
Aperocho said system loss affects the entire power industry, while some technical loss remains inherent as electricity moves through wires, transformers and other equipment.
“While distribution utilities like Meralco continue to invest in modernizing and upgrading facilities and deploying technologies that reduce system losses, a certain level of technical losses remains inherent in operating an electric distribution system,” Meralco said in a statement.
System loss covers electricity lost during delivery because of technical factors and non-technical causes such as theft and illegal connections. The Energy Regulatory Commission limits how much utilities may recover from customers. Losses beyond the cap are shouldered by the distributor.
Meralco said its investments have kept its system loss below the ERC’s 6.5 percent ceiling. Its rate stood at 5.72 percent at the end of March 2026, down from 5.85 percent in the previous quarter.
ERC Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan said policymakers must determine who will shoulder the cost if consumers no longer pay the charge. He said the ERC cannot abolish it on its own because EPIRA allows system loss recovery subject to regulatory caps.
Aperocho said reforms should preserve utilities’ capacity to operate efficiently, invest in infrastructure and maintain safe and stable electricity service.
The charge remains in place unless Congress amends EPIRA and the new rules take effect.
