Lawmaker wants ERC rulings probed

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives may have to conduct an investigation in aid of legislation in light of two recent decisions of the Energy Regulatory Commission involving the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and distribution utilities (DUs).

Rep. Harry Roque is in a quandary on why the ERC favored a higher interim Maximum Annual Revenue (iMAR) for the NGCP and why the deadline for compliance with the Competitive Selection Process (CSP) in the procurement of power supply by DUs was extended.

“I will pursue this issue,” the party-list congressman from Kabayan vowed, noting that ERC commissioners – with the exception of chairman Jose Vicente Salazar who was on leave then – proceeded with these, which could ultimately put additional burden on power consumers.

The NGCP is the concessionaire of the country’s nationwide power transmission system. 

The NGCP iMAR is the cap imposed by the ERC on the revenues that it can earn in a given year. This cap or threshold aims to protect consumers from unbridled spikes in transmission charges.

Without Salazar’s knowledge, ERC commissioners Patricia Asirit, Gloria Taruc, Alfredo Non and Geronimo Sta. Ana allegedly reversed an earlier decision to peg the iMAR at P41 billion and raise it to P43.8 billion.

Based on the ERC website, Non went on record as proposing an even higher iMAR for NGCP, pegged at P45.3 billion.

 Roque also questioned why the reversal of the earlier decision in favor of the higher iMAR was made by Asirit, Taruc, Non and Sta. Ana at the time that Salazar was on leave following investigations related to the suicide of ERC director Jose Francisco Villa Jr.

Sta. Ana was the acting ERC chairman when they moved to raise the NGCP iMAR . 

Roque and his colleagues have also called for further probe on the move by the ERC to extend the deadline for the implementation of the CSP, which allegedly paved the way for some so-called midnight deals to be sealed between power distributors and generators.

The extension earlier came under fire as cause-oriented groups raised concerns that the move favored some of the country’s biggest power distributors. 

The CSP required DUs to call for at least two bids for their power requirements. CSP rules allow them to buy from affiliate power generators only as a last resort.