ELECTRICITY consumers could see their monthly bills go down as regulators on Thursday reversed a more than 10-year-old ruling that allowed the operator of the country's power grid to pass on a franchise tax.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), in a statement, said it was taking back a 2011 order that gave National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) the authority to bill a 3-percent franchise tax, which it is mandated to pay under its charter, to distribution utilities (DUs) that subsequently passed the levy on to consumers.