Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. __________ 
Introduced by 
PHILRECA Party-List Representative Presley C. De Jesus, 
APEC Party-List Representative Sergio C. Dagooc 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The practice of installing and using electric sub-meters has long been 
observed in the determination of electricity usage of tenants occupying leased 
rooms or units. This method, however, has been consistently met with 
criticisms as some building owners have taken advantage of the sub-metering 
system by charging their tenants beyond their actual consumption. Moreover, 
tenants have complained of incremental charges added to their electric bills 
through imposition of higher rates than officially charged by their distribution 
utility. 
It is the State’s responsibility to enact measures that will protect the rights 
and interests of consumers from acts of profiteering of business owners. 
Hence, this proposed legislation is crafted to protect the interests of electric 
consumers who avail of sub-meters by ensuring that charges borne by unit-
users are equivalent to their actual kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption. It also 
aims to ensure that rates charged by the direct meter owner are equivalent to 
rates imposed by the distribution utility in its franchise area. 
Finally, this bill seeks to levy the charges on consumers in a fair and more 
efficient manner by providing a framework for regulating sub-meters and 
other electricity redistribution methods utilized by end-users. 
July 19, 2022
4:00 pm
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In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
  PRESLEY C. DE JESUS 
  PHILRECA Party-List Representative 
 SERGIO C. DAGOOC 
   APEC Party-List Representative 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. __________ 
Introduced by  
PHILRECA Party List Representative Presley C. De Jesus, 
APEC Party List  Representative Sergio C. Dagooc 
AN ACT  
PROVIDING FOR THE REGULATION OF SUB-METERS AND 
REDISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY  
TO INDIVIDUAL UNIT-USERS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the Philippines 
in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the "Sub-meter 
1 
Regulation Act.” 
2 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is hereby declared the policy 
3 
of the State to: 
4 
(a)
Ensure the quality, reliability, security and affordability of the supply
5 
of electric power;
6 
(b)
Protect the public interest as it is affected by the rates and services
7 
of electric utilities and other providers of electric power;
8 
(c)
Ensure transparent and reasonable prices of electricity to achieve
9 
greater operational and economic  efficiency;
10 
(d)
Provide a transparent, non-discriminatory and reasonable price of
11 
electricity;
12 
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. – For purposes of this Act, the following 
13 
terms shall be defined as stated below: 
14 
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(a) 
DU or Distribution utility refers to any electric cooperative, private 
1 
corporation, 
government-owned 
utility 
or 
existing 
local 
2 
government unit which has an exclusive franchise to operate a 
3 
distribution system in accordance with the EPIRA, including DUs 
4 
operating in the economic zones; 
5 
(b) 
DOE refers to the Department of Energy (DOE) created pursuant 
6 
to Republic Act No. 7638 otherwise known as the Department of 
7 
Energy Act of 1992. 
8 
(c) 
ERC or Energy Regulatory Commission refers to the independent 
9 
regulatory agency created under Republic Act No. 9136, otherwise 
10 
known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA); 
11 
(d) 
Mother meter or DU billing meter refers to the utility meter 
12 
provided by the DU to the redistributor that registers the sum of 
13 
the energy measured by the sub-meters of the redistributor 
14 
including the redistribution loss; 
15 
(e) 
NEA or National Electrification Administration refers to the 
16 
government agency created under Presidential Decree No. 269, as 
17 
amended; 
18 
(f) 
Redistribution loss refers to the difference between the total 
19 
registered consumption in the redistributor’s DU billing meter and 
20 
the accumulated energy consumption registered by all sub-
21 
meters. 
22 
(g) 
Redistributor refers to a person or entity which has an electric 
23 
service contract with a DU and who redistributes electricity to 
24 
other person/s or entity/ies. This may include a building owner, 
25 
building administrator or homeowners’ association charged with 
26 
the responsibility of redistributing electricity to the individual 
27 
unit-users of the same building. 
28 
(h) 
Sub-meter refers to  the billing meter provided by the redistributor 
29 
to each unit-user which registers only the energy consumption of 
30 
the unit or end-user; 
31 
(i) 
Submetering refers to the installation of equipment to determine 
32 
the actual use of gas or electricity for each residential unit in an 
33 
apartment house or commercial rental unit in an office building 
34 
or shopping center; and 
35 
 
36 
(j) 
Unit user refers to a person or entity owning or leasing a unit 
37 
inside the same building being served by the redistributor, whose 
38 
electric consumption is measured through sub-meter. 
39 
SECTION 4. Coverage. – This Act shall apply to redistributors using 
40 
reasonable apportionment methods, specifically sub-metering, to register 
41 
electricity usage of individual unit-users in their buildings, single structures, 
42 
or industrial/commercial complexes solely for the purpose of allocating the 
43 


cost of the electricity billed by the DU. Sub-meters must meet the standards 
1 
of accuracy and testing of their respective distribution utility (DU). 
2 
SECTION 5.  Sub-meter Rates. – The unit-users shall only pay for their 
3 
actual kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption reflected in their respective sub-
4 
meters and the rate to be charged shall be equivalent to rates imposed by the 
5 
DU on the redistributor. The charges imposed shall be allocated among the 
6 
units in proportion to the actual usage of kilowatt hours (kWh) by the unit, 
7 
as indicated by the  sub-meters. This is without prejudice to the recovery of 
8 
redistribution losses in sub-metering of electricity by the building owner or 
9 
administrator from their respective unit users. No profit shall be derived from 
10 
such recovery. 
11 
SECTION 6. Sub-meter Reading. – All sub-meters installed, connected, 
12 
or registered under one mother-meter should be read at the same time, at 
13 
both the beginning and end of the month, or whichever measurement period 
14 
the redistributor’s contract indicates.   
15 
SECTION 7. Obligations of redistributors. – All redistributors utilizing 
16 
the sub-metering method shall:  
17 
(a) 
Disclose the sub-metering to each unit-users and obtain from 
18 
them an acknowledgment in a written document; 
19 
(b) 
Publish or post, in a conspicuous place, the specific current rate 
20 
schedule as published by the DU and the contact information of 
21 
the DU serving the mother meter; 
22 
(c) 
Provide an internal billing to unit-users with the following 
23 
information: 
24 
(i) 
Energy consumption (kWh) and demand (KW) of unit-user; 
25 
(ii) 
Current rate schedule as published by the DU; 
26 
(iii) 
Charges for sub-metering and billing services, if any; 
27 
(iv) 
Sufficient information to allow unit-users to replicate and 
28 
check bill calculations; and 
29 
(d) 
Maintain records regarding sub-metering of unit-users and make 
30 
such records available for inspection by the ERC. 
31 
SECTION 8. Obligations of sub-meter unit-users. – All unit-users 
32 
utilizing the sub-metering method shall: 
33 
(a) 
Pay their bills not later than nine (9) days after receipt of the 
34 
monthly bill from their redistributors; 
35 
(b) 
Pay a billing adjustment in case there is a stoppage or failure by 
36 
the unit-user’s sub-meter to register the full amount of energy 
37 
consumed without any fault on the part of the unit-user; 
38 


(c) 
Not perform acts constituting illegal use of electricity, as provided 
1 
by Article 34 of the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity 
2 
Consumers as adopted by the ERC. 
3 
SECTION 9. Penalty. – A violation of any provision of this Act shall be 
4 
subject to a fine ranging from a minimum of Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00) 
5 
to Two Hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00), which the ERC, after giving 
6 
the redistributor or unit-user consumer the opportunity to be heard, may 
7 
impose. 
8 
SEC. 10. Information Dissemination. – All DUs including private 
9 
electric utilities, electric cooperatives, the ERC, and the NEA shall, in 
10 
cooperation with each other, undertake a vigorous campaign to inform their 
11 
consumers of the provisions of this Act within sixty (60) days from the 
12 
effectivity of this Act and at least once a year thereafter. 
13 
SEC. 11. Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). - The ERC, 
14 
DOE, and NEA shall formulate the implementing rules and regulations to carry 
15 
out the provisions of this Act.  
16 
SEC. 12. Separability Clause. - The provisions of this Act are hereby 
17 
declared separable. In the event that any provision hereof is rendered 
18 
unconstitutional, those that are not affected shall remain valid and effective.  
19 
SEC. 13. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and 
20 
regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are 
21 
hereby amended or repealed accordingly.  
22 
SEC. 14. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
23 
following its publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general 
24 
circulation.  
25 
 
Approved, 
26