ERC sets 2016 priorities

MANILA, Philippines - Resolving ongoing probe, going paperless and hiring more staff are among the priorities of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) this year. 

The agency has started the process to hire more manpower to help reduce a backlog of cases that already breached 2,700, ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar said.

“We’re continuously recruiting personnel to help us with the pending work to be able to achieve zero backlog in two years.,” Salazar said.

“That can be done by attracting more people and making the processes more efficient,” he added.

Currently, the commission employs 249 people and is aiming to add 256 more as part of the agency’s institutional strengthening.

To attract applicants, ERC commissioner Geronimo Sta. Ana said the agency upgraded the salary scale of employees based on a study conducted for it by Towers Watson, a global professional services company.

“We benchmark it with the private sector, also with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),” he said.

The SEC is ERC’s counterpart regulator in the corporate world. ERC regulates the power industry. Both ERC and SEC employees are not covered by the government’s Salary Standardization Law.

For now, the power regulator is getting all the help to resolve pending cases from other agencies such as the Office of the Solicitor General.

It is particularly focused on finishing the probe on the 12 power players that withheld power supply in December 2013. A report was made by the ERC’s Investigation Unit on the matter.

The alleged connivance allegedly resulted in record high increase in electricity rates almost three years ago. The agency has said it is targeting to come out with a decision on the case by the middle of 2016. Aside from manpower, the ERC is also embarking on an automation of its processes to speed up its operations.

“We’re also going to have that study on how we will be able to automate our processes,” Salazar said.