merb industry power distributor founded january 17 1895 headquarters pasig philippines key people manuel v. pangilinan chairman oscar s. reyes president and ceo owner see list website www.meralco.com.ph the manila electric company pse mer and merb also known as meralco stylized in its logo as meralco is the philippines largest distributor of electrical power . it is metro manila s only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 22 cities and 89 municipalities including the whole of the national capital region and the exurbs that form mega manila . the name meralco is an acronym for manila electric railroad and light company which was the company s original name until 1919 . contents 1 history 1.1 la electricista 1.2 founding of the manila electric railroad and light company 1.3 manila suburban railways company 1.4 power generation and distribution 1.5 world war ii 1.6 martial law era 1.7 post edsa 1.8 2008 legislative investigation on high power rates 1.9 syndicated estafa and bribery case 1.10 dismissal of syndicated estafa case 2 service area 3 ownership 4 sell offs and acquisitions 4.1 san miguel acquisition of gsis stake 5 sports teams 6 references history edit la electricista edit organized in 1891 and beginning operations in late 1894 la electricista was the first electric company to provide electricity to manila towards the close of the spanish era . la electricista had built a central power plant on calle san sebastian now hidalgo street 1 2 in quiapo manila . 3 on january 17 1895 its streetlights were turned on for the first time and by 1903 it had about 3 000 electric light customers . founding of the manila electric railroad and light company edit on october 20 1902 during the american colonial period the second philippine commission began accepting bids to operate manila s electric tramway and by extension providing electricity to the city and its suburbs . detroit entrepreneur charles m. swift was the sole bidder and on march 24 1903 was granted the original basic franchise of meralco . 4 in 1904 meralco acquired both the compa a de los tranv as de filipinas a firm that operated public transportation and ran manila s horse drawn and steam operated tramways and added la electricista . construction on the electric tramway began that same year . in addition to acquiring la electricista s calle san sebastian power plant meralco built its own steam generating plant on isla provisora which powered the tram system and eventually also the electric service . by 1906 meralco s yearly power output capacity was around eight million kwh . manila suburban railways company edit swift was awarded another franchise in 1906 to operate a 9.8 kilometres 6.1 mi extension line from paco to fort mckinley and pasig and founded the manila suburban railway to operate this franchise . 4 in 1919 this company merged with the manila electric company . 4 this extension was one of the most profitable of meralco s lines . 4 by the 1920 meralco had a 170 strong fleet of streetcars before switching over to buses later in that decade . the company operated 52 miles of trams until world war ii . the equipment and tracks of the system was severely damaged during the war and had to be removed . 5 power generation and distribution edit by 1915 electricity generation and distribution became the main meralco s main income generator overtaking its public transportation operations in terms of revenue . in 1919 it changed its official name to manila electric company . by 1920 the company s power capacity had grown to 45 million kwh . in 1925 meralco was acquired by the utility holding company associated gas and electric or ageco reorganized as general public utilities corporation or gpu in 1946 which had begun a massive expansion throughout the united states and the dominion of canada . with ageco s financial backing meralco began acquiring a number of existing utility companies in the philippines enabling the company to expand beyond manila . by 1930 meralco had completed construction of the philippine s first hydroelectric power plant the 23mw botocan hydro station . citation needed at the time this plant was one of the largest engineering projects in asia citation needed and constituted the largest single private capital investment in the philippines . citation needed the additional capacity allowed the company to begin hooking up customers throughout the metropolitan area . meralco office malolos city cultural and heritage house . to drive demand for more power meralco also opened a retail store in order to sell electric home appliances . citation needed world war ii edit during the second world war the japanese occupying forces forcibly transferred all of meralco s assets and holdings to the japanese controlled taiwan power company . by war s end most of the former meralco facilities had been destroyed . after the war meralco s autobus franchise was sold to halili transport . in 1962 don eugenio l pez sr. acquired meralco and finally making it wholly filipino owned . during 1962 72 he increased meralco s power generating capacity five times with the building of additional power stations in the manila area with two more planned in rizal province . martial law era edit in 1972 president ferdinand marcos declared martial law and issued presidential decree 40 which nationalised the country s electric generation and transmission . the eldest of don eugenio s children were arrested in order to persuade him to turn over his businesses to the regime . eugenio lopez jr. geny was charged with conspiring to assassinate the president . with his son held hostage don eugenio was forced to give up his holdings in a group of companies worth several hundred million dollars but geny was not released from prison . ownership of the company was placed under a shell company called the meralco foundation inc. controlled by cronies under the newly created state run national power corporation napocor . by 1978 all of the philippines major power plants were owned and operated by napocor including the metro manila plants that meralco had bulit beforehand in the 1960s . state control for the company however began in 1975 given the company s rising debt and financial problems during the decade . post edsa edit meralco l pez building along ortigas avenue pasig metro manila . state control of meralco lasted until after the people power revolution in february 1986 which toppled the marcos dictatorship . president corazon aquino reverted company ownership to the l pez family without them paying for the state funded improvements done during martial law . she also enacted an executive order that allowed the company to directly compete with napocor . 6 2008 legislative investigation on high power rates edit meralco is facing a philippine legislative inquiry investigation for alleged excessive pricing . 7 the government has considered a plan to take over meralco to reduce electricity bills . meralco and national transmission corporation transco blamed each other for the high power rates . 8 meralco also blames high power generation costs high transmission costs and government taxes imposed on the electricity sector from power generation to distribution . government service insurance system gsis president winston garc a however blamed meralco s inefficiency its bloated bureaucracy and its sourcing of power from independent power producers ipps also owned by the l pez family and the need to amend the electric power industry reform act epira of 2001 . oscar l pez said that if the gsis would buy the meralco shares they must buy in whole cash while many businessmen also said that taking over meralco is not the way to reduce electrical price which depends on the national government and the president . the issue was also seen as a purposeful diversion from the then ongoing zte nbn scandal and other government issues . 9 a perceived lack of general understanding regarding the issue of system loss inherent in the business of utilities prompted meralco s former holding company first philippine holdings to issue advertisements explaining systems loss . syndicated estafa and bribery case edit the department of justice philippines filed syndicated fraud charges against meralco in its august 22 2008 31 page resolution filed with the pasig regional trial court . the may 29 national association of electricity consumers for reform nasecore complaint accused meralco of illegally declaring as income 889 million in consumers money which represents interest from meter and bill deposits consumers had been paying since 1995 . 10 no bail was recommended for all the accused 2006 officers of meralco to wit meralco chairman and ceo manuel lopez executive vice president and chief financial officer daniel tagaza first vice resident and treasurer rafael andrada vice president and corporate auditor and compliance officer helen de guzman vice president and assistant comptroller antonio valera and senior assistant vice president and assistant treasurer manolo fernando ; 2006 meralco directors arthur defensor jr. gregory domingo octavio victor espiritu christian monsod federico puno washington sycip emilio vicens francisco viray and former prime minister cesar virata . nasecore s complaint accusing meralco of illegally declaring as income 889 million pesos in consumers money which represents interest from meter and bill deposits consumers had been paying since 1995 was immediately refuted by the accused company as the alleged 889 million only stemmed from a generally accepted accounting principle of reversing meralco s earlier provision for meter deposit interests which earlier set at 10 % per annum was deemed too high and was set to the recommended 6 % . 11 meralco also questioned how a syndicated estafa case can arise when it has already announced and committed that it will be refunding to customers who paid meter deposit principals plus interest months ahead of the erc prescribed schedule and has allocated enough funds for the said refund . meralco is also involved in the gsis meralco bribery case . 12 dismissal of syndicated estafa case edit on october 6 2008 the pasig city regional trial court branch 71 dismissed the syndicated estafa case filed against the meralco board of directors for the prosecution failed to establish all the elements of syndicated estafa . 13 presiding judge franco falcon pointed out in the ruling that the board is not the kind described by the law as being formed to perpetrate an illegal act for the board of directors were elected by stockholders . the court explained therefore the accused can never be charged of taking part in the commission of syndicated estafa not only because they are not part of a syndicate as contemplated by law in pd 1689 but more so because there was absolutely no estafa committed . according to philippine law to constitute syndicated estafa the subject money or property must be received by the offenders . the money represents the accrued interests on the bill and meter deposits which were paid by meralco customers not directly to the board but to the various meralco business centers where the customers transacted . meralco expressed elation over the dismissal . 14 service area edit meralco s franchise area . metro manila batangas batangas city san pascual and santo tomas bulacan whole province cavite whole province rizal whole province laguna except the 4th district which exclude pila and santa cruz quezon lucena ownership edit as of december 31 2013 15 beacon electric asset holdings inc. consortium of pldt and metro pacific 49.96 % jg summit holdings inc. 27.12 % first philippine holdings corporation 3.94 % first philippine utilities corporation 0.01 % government thru pcd nominee corporation 5.03 % gsis 1.05 % landbank 3.98 % public stock 13.19 % sell offs and acquisitions edit san miguel acquisition of gsis stake edit in october 2008 food and beverage conglomerate san miguel corporation acquired gsis s entire 27 percent stake in meralco at 90 per share or a total of 26 billion . sports teams edit