Energy sector readies transition to RCOA

MANILA, Philippines - The transition to the retail competition and open access (RCOA) scheme will push through but the mandatory provision, which is being questioned by the Supreme Court, will be studied by power industry regulators.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will coordinate on the SC order to justify the new RCOA policy which the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) argued limits the choice of big power consumers to choose their suppliers.

The high court gave DOE and ERC 10 days to submit their comments on the petition.

“As to the SC order, we will coordinate with our legal services. We may also coordinate with ERC to discuss the recent developments,” DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said in a text message yesterday.

In a separate text message, ERC spokesperson Floresinda Digal said the commission “will make consultations with DOE and act accordingly.”

Under the RCOA regime, end-users who are part of the contestable market, or the contestable customers (CCs), are given the freedom to choose their supplier of electricity to foster competition in the generation and supply sector.

However, PCCI asked SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the new DOE and ERC orders, which supposedly run contrary to the goal of RCOA since the choices are only limited to the 23 retail electricity suppliers (RES) accredited by ERC.

The scheme will also violate Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) since it will lead to higher prices of electricity to ordinary consumers and will have a negative impact on the economy.

The DOE said the Feb. 26 schedule for the RCOA transition would push through but making it mandatory is being reviewed.

“As to the effective date of the mandatory contestability for one megawatt and up by Feb. 26 2017, we are doing an internal quick survey and validation on which CCs do not have RES,” Fuentebella said.

“We want to gather more data by meeting the potential CCs which do not have yet RES to know the reason why they still do not have RES,” the DOE official said.

Fuentebella earlier said the DOE is considering to give large power end-users more leeway by making it optional for those with at least one MW in monthly demand to migrate to the RCOA scheme.