MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has assured its customers it would exhaust all measures to mitigate the impact of the continued suspension of its 2019 power supply agreement (PSA) with South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) involving 670 megawatts.
The 13th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA), in a resolution dated Jan. 25, granted the writ of preliminary injunction (WPI) sought by SPPC in relation to its PSA with Meralco.
“With the WPI, implementation of the PSA will remain suspended until such time that the Court of Appeals resolves the petition for certiorari filed by SPPC,” Meralco said.
It said that preserving the PSA serves the best interest of its customers as this would protect them from potentially higher electricity rates.
“The company will continue exhausting all measures and work with relevant industry stakeholders to find ways to mitigate the impact of this WPI and ensure the continued delivery of stable and reliable power to its 7.6 million customers,” the power distributor said.
The CA said the purpose of injunction is to prevent threatened or continuous irremediable injury to the parties before their claims can be thoroughly studied and adjudicated.
“To be clear, the grant of the WPI suspends the continued implementation of the PSA, but does not terminate the same. This is to allow the parties to negotiate the terms of the PSA,” the court said.
The issuance of the WPI is conditioned upon the posting of SPPC of a P100-million bond to answer for any damage that respondents may suffer or sustain should the court later decide against SPPC.
“We are seeking guidance of our counsel, Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), on this latest resolution of the 13th Division of the Court of Appeals that granted the permanent injunction in favor of SPPC, while the 16th Division earlier denied the injunction plea of San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC),” Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.
Dimalanta said the OSG had not yet received a copy of the WPI as of yesterday.
The CA’s 14th Division issued on Dec. 2, 2022 a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) suspending the implementation of the PSA between SPPC and Meralco.
As a result, SPPC officially ceased supplying Meralco under its PSA on Dec. 7, forcing Meralco to start sourcing additional 670 MW from the electricity spot market.
SPPC and SMEC had filed their respective petitions for certiorari before the CA to assail the ERC Order dated Sept. 29, 2022, which denied its motion for price adjustment and directed the company and Meralco to uphold the fixed price and the provisions of their PSA.
But the CA’s 16th Division, in a resolution dated Jan. 13, 2023, denied SMEC’s petition for a TRO on the PSA with Meralco covering the supply of 330 MW.
The ERC in an order promulgated in Sept. 29 last year denied a joint rate hike petition of SPPC, SMEC and Meralco for a temporary adjustment in the prices of their PSAs signed in 2019 to recover fuel costs amid the unprecedented spike in fuel prices.