by Myrna Velasco May 29, 2016
(updated)
Wider scope of end-users can soon
exercise “power of choice” on their electricity supply procurement, as the
Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) already set the successive lowering of
retail competition threshold to 500 kilowatts (kw).
As stipulated in ERC Resolution No.
10 Series of 2016, the reduction of competitive and power retailing threshold
to 500kW was set on June 26, 2018.
The regulatory body nevertheless
qualified that this will still be subject to review depending on the outcome of
the initial mandatory thresholds of 1.0 megawatt and 750 kilowatts that are for
enforcements this year and 2017.
“The lowering of the threshold to
cover an end-user with an average monthly peak demand of at least 500kW is set
on 26 June 2018, subject to the review of the performance of the retail
market,” the ERC stressed.
It added that corollary to this
review of the retail market results by then, the ERC “shall establish a set of
criteria as basis for the lowering of the contestability threshold.”
Notably, at 500kW contestability
level, the regulatory body is also envisioning the start of aggregation of
demand – wherein end-users in a contiguous area (adjacent domains like
residential villages and similarly situated entities) can lump their
requirements to enable them to directly contract their power supply.
Retail aggregation, as defined by
industry regulators, entails “the joining of two or more end-users within a
contiguous area into a single purchasing unit,” to make them qualified in the
contestable market to be served by licensed retail electricity suppliers.
The retail electricity suppliers
(RES) will be relevant addition in the country’s power supply chain – which
will then offer packages and services that befit each end-user’s demand as well
as usage and cost preferences.
They will effectively replace the
function long-held by franchised distribution utilities that were then
front-liners in servicing the electricity needs of Filipino consumers.
With the advent of retail
competition and open access in the restructured power sector, ratepayers are
hopeful that they can also get out from the shackles of recurrent complaints of
expensive power rates on top of improved service offers.
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