Lawyer Francis Saturnino Juan, ERC executive director and spokesman, said in a press conference the commission gave Meralco up to December 31, 2015, instead of the original December 31, 2010, deadline.

According to Juan, Meralco sought for more time to pay the refund since it could no longer locate some of its customers while some have yet to complete the requirements for the refund

As of September 30, 2011, Juan said Meralco has already refunded P23.929 billion of the P30.229 billion as ordered by the Supreme Court, and that what’s left for Meralco to refund is only P6.3 billion.

In the event Meralco fails to locate the customer, Juan said Meralco has proposed several options on how to dispose of whatever amount will be left. One proposal is to return the amount to all customers in a form of rebate.

Another is to keep the amount until the customer claims it. If no one claims it, then it will be subject to proceedings that will result in turning over whatever that amount is to the state.

On April 15, 2003, the Supreme Court reversed a Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Meralco’s rate increase. The Supreme Court cited as basis the defunct Energy Regulatory Board’s order that allowed Meralco to increase its rates by P0.017 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) instead of P0.184/kWh as provisionally approved by the Board in January 1994, which was based on a Commission on Audit’s (COA) recommendation.

The ERB then said COA recommended that the income taxes that Meralco paid as part of operating expenses should not be collected from its customers.

In effect, the Supreme Court ruling ordered Meralco to refund to its customers an average of P0.167/kWh in overcharges from February 1994 to May 2003.