After six years of rapid payout growth, the Philippine utility’s earnings-based dividend framework faces a consequential question: Who should bear the cost of electricity that never reaches the meter? For much of this decade, Manila Electric Company has offered shareholders something increasingly scarce: a dividend that has not merely held steady but climbed with remarkable consistency. From 2020 through 2026, Meralco’s cash distributions increased from ₱9.984 to ₱28.430 per share , based on dividends paid within each calendar year. That works out to compound annual growth of roughly 19 percent —an unusually strong record for a mature electric utility, a category typically prized for stability rather than rapid expansion. The progression has been almost uninterrupted. Annual dividends rose to ₱12.881 per share in 2021, ₱16.032 in 2022, ₱19.548 in 2023, ₱21.530 in 2024, and ₱25.064 in 2025. The two payments scheduled for 2026—₱16.672 in April and ₱11.758 in September—bring the calendar-...