Syquia vs.

Board of Power and Waterworks

Doctrine: the additional electricity cost for common facilities of the apartment building used by the tenants in
common is purely civil in character, (involving the conditions of lease between landlord and tenant), to be adjudged
under the applicable civil laws exclusively by the regular courts of general jurisdiction and is beyond the jurisdiction
of respondent board.
Facts:
Private respondents(Ruiz, Enriquez, and Moses) filed a complaint to the Board of Power and Waterworks charging
Syquia, their landlord, of selling electricity without permit or franchise and billing them for amounts in excess of
Meralco rates.
Petitioner Syquia questioned the jurisdiction of the regulatory board(respondent) contending that she is not engaged
in the sale of electric power but merely passes to the end-users their legitimate electric current bills in accordance to
their lease contract.(basically contractual in nature ang meron siya sa tenant at pinapasa lang nya yung mga bills)
Respondent Board in its re-computation allowed petitioner to charge respondents only the cost of electricity
registered in their individual apartment meters and disallow the actual cost of additional electricity charged them pro
rata by petitioner for the cost of electricity consumed by all tenants in the common areas. Hence, the petition.
Issue: Whether or not the Board of Power and Waterworks has jurisdiction.
Held:
No.The Board of Power and Waterworks has exceeded its jurisdiction. Petitioner is not engaged in a public service
nor in the sale of electricity without permit or franchise. The complaint by the tenant give rise to a question that is
purely civil in character that is to be adjudged under the applicable provisions of the Civil Code (not the Public
Service Act) and not by the respondent regulatory board which has no jurisdiction but by the regular courts of
general jurisdiction.