ERC vows to act on Meralco PSAs

MANILA, Philippines -  The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has vowed to act on the power supply contracts applied for by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) in three months, after lawmakers pressed the power regulator in a congressional hearing.

This is the working target the agency will try to meet, ERC OIC Alfredo Non said in an interview after the hearing late Tuesday.

 “We will try…to the extent we can,” he said.

The ERC tried to accommodate filings from intervenors before finally deciding on the controversial Meralco power supply deals.

“Intervenors were delayed in submitting their position papers…but that doesn’t mean we should jump to conclusion… so we gave them ample time,” Non said.

Meralco filed seven power supply agreements (PSAs) with the ERC on April 29, 2016, a day before the new effectivity date of the competitive selection process (CSP) policy requiring distribution utilities to undertake competitive bidding to secure PSAs with generation companies.

The deadline to comply with the CSP policy was originally scheduled on Nov. 6, 2015 but was moved to a later date with clarifications raised by stakeholders.

The power distributor said the deals involve a supply of 3,551 MW, which corner 81 percent of the combined output of the seven power plants, most of which are owned or partly owned by Meralco through its power generating unit Meralco PowerGen Corp. and affiliate Global Business Power Corp.

Since the PSAs were filed on the eve of the CSP deadline, it was alleged that the pending PSAs were midnight contracts and will result in costlier and dirtier energy from coal.

However, Meralco defended its contracts, saying these power supply deals will provide adequate and least cost supply to consumers and support the “Build Build Build” program of the Duterte administration.

It added said the PSAs were legally filed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the ERC with the objective of ensuring adequate and reliable power supply at least cost to Meralco’s more than six million customers.