Competition commission to look into Luzon power outages

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s antitrust body said Monday it would look into allegations of collusion or abuse of dominance among power plants amid power outages in Luzon. 

In a statement, the Philippine Competition Commission said it would “assess whether the recent power plants’ outages are manipulated to increase electricity prices or are valid unplanned breakdowns that affect supply conditions.”

Under the competition law, engagement in anti-competitive or collusive behavior is punishable by up to P250 million and imprisonment of officers of up to seven years, PCC said.

PCC also said it welcomes the call for audits by the Department of Energy of the concerned power plants and their control rooms.

“While the PCC has primary and original jurisdiction over competition concerns, the antitrust commission acknowledges the technical expertise and regulatory functions of the DOE and the Energy Regulatory Commission in overseeing the power industry,” it said.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on energy, earlier called on the PCC and the DOE to investigate allegation of collusion among power plants. — Gaea Katreena Cabico